


Young Maiden's Chronicles 2: Seasonal Fantasy

by Pvt_Winters



Series: Young Maiden's Chronicles [4]
Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, Gen, Immaterial and Missing Power, Imperishable Night, Marisa likes her pop culture references, Perfect Cherry Blossom, Phantasmagoria of Flower View, Touhou Windows era 1, Young Maiden's Chronicles, fan remake, mahou shoujo Reimu lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-13
Updated: 2019-09-27
Packaged: 2019-10-28 22:26:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 24,310
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17795894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pvt_Winters/pseuds/Pvt_Winters
Summary: Hakurei Reimu, having just become a full-fledged shrine maiden, is in the midst of learning about her new duty when she stumbles upon something that granted her full access to the true powers of the Hakurei clan. Little did she know that with great power comes great responsibility...A fan remake covering from EoSD to PoFV.





	1. The New Shrine Maiden

  _Life..._

_The element of nature..._

_It exists in many different forms..._

_It exists in many different environments..._

_There is not a place where life doesn't flourish..._

_There is not a life that thrives independently..._

_Yet for one life to thrive..._

_...Another has to cease..._

_This is the spiral of life..._

_...A spiral none can escape..._

_This is the story of an individual..._

_Who will become the caretaker of life..._

_...In a land with an imperfect spiral..._

_A land called Gensokyo..._

_This is her story..._

_A young maiden's chronicles..._

...

**Hakurei Shrine**

It was a peaceful time...

Everyone in the human villages went about with their lives. The adults ran their shops while the children played around in the streets.

But for some people, they have some other matters to attend to, as they left the confines of the villages to head to the shrine on top of the small hill to the east.

That shrine is the Hakurei Shrine.

The news have spread that the current shrine maiden trainee has finished her training, and will be becoming a full-fledged shrine maiden. It has been many years since her predecessor passed on, and people are glad that they are about to have a new guardian to protect them from the various Youkai that plagued everything outside of the villages' confines, and some have taken to come to the Shrine to see the new shrine maiden's initiation ceremony in person.

While the Hakurei Shrine occupied a large piece of land (enough for a manor to be placed on top of it), the main shrine building is barely larger than an average house, and right behind it is a storage shed that's only slightly bigger. The Shrine has seen better days, and some hoped that the new shrine maiden can bring it to revitalization.

That being said, though, the visitors were few in numbers, including villagers, village peacekeepers, and officers of the Gensokyo Police Force.

There are also the shrine maidens from the lesser known shrines of Gensokyo, who came to get a first glimpse of the latest successor of the land's most important shrine.

The crowd's murmuring decreased as the would-be shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine emerged from the shrine's main building.

"So this is the next Hakurei shrine maiden..." 

"Is she competent, though?" 

"She is just a child..." 

"The youngest Hakurei shrine maiden ever..." 

The crowd's murmur continued to lower in volume until they became silent as the new shrine maiden stopped at the center of the altar.

Then with no further adieu, the initiation ceremony began with the new shrine maiden performing the  _kagura_  dance, just the way she had practiced and rehearsed in the last month.

If it were any other Shinto shrines, the initiation ceremony would not be this extravagant. But this has been the tradition of the Hakurei Shrine and the clan it is named after since before Gensokyo sealed itself off from the outside world.

The crowd and the lesser shrine maidens watched with awe how elegant the new Hakurei shrine maiden performed the  _kagura_  dance. The ritual went on without a hitch, and is about to reach the final stages...

...And then the mystical mood gets ruined by the sound of someone making a loud entrance.

"HELLO DADDY! HELLO MOM! I'M YOUR CH-CH-CH-CH-CH-CHERRY BOMB!"

Eyebrows raised and eyes wide open in confusion, everyone turned toward the  _torii_  arch where the loud singing came from.

Ascending the steps is a western blonde girl wearing a black pointy hat with an equally black leather coat over a black blouse and pants. Strapped to the side of her waist is a rectangular mechanical device in which the loud song she is singing along with is coming from.

"Isn't that... Mr. Kirisame's daughter?" 

"Marisa, isn't it?" 

"What is she doing?" 

"Is that even appropriate?" 

**Stardust Witch**

**Marisa G. Kirisame**

"HELLO WORLD, I'M YOUR WILD GIRL! I'M YOUR CH-CH-CH-CH-CH-CHERRY BOMB!"

The girl, Marisa, continued to loudly sing along with her song-playing device for several more seconds, with everyone in the shrine grounds watching in utter confusion.

Then the song suddenly went out, and Marisa's singing came to a halt with it.

"The heck?" Marisa, speaking in a foreign language, wondered what just happened, as she grabbed the song-playing device and raised it up to her face for a close inspection. "Why'd it..."

"Miss Marisa, please don't ruin Miss Reimu's big day..." A shorter witch, this one with brown hair and looking like a Yamato, came into view, holding in her right hand a glowing magic wand. She is followed by four others.

Marisa frowned upon hearing that. "Oh, you Little Witches..."

Ignoring Marisa (for now), the Little Witches walked past her to stand before the crowd, then bowed as they apologized to everyone on Marisa's behalf.

At that moment, the newly inducted shrine maiden walked down the altar, past the crowd and Little Witches, and stopped before Marisa.

The blonde witch raised a hand to greet the shrine maiden. "Hi, Reimu. How ya doin'?"

**Young Maiden of Paradise**

**Hakurei Reimu**

The shrine maiden, Reimu, answered with a hard tap to the witch's head.

"あなたのマナーはどこですか?" Reimu then berated Marisa in the Yamato language.

"What are you saying?" Marisa, pressing a hand on where Reimu had tapped her, said. "Gimme a moment, please." She then summoned a star-tipped magic wand into existence in her right hand, and started waving it gently.

"あなたはまだその奇妙な外国語を話していますか?" Reimu said again.

"Well, I ain't got a clue on what'cha sayin'..." Marisa answered as she continued waving her wand.

"私はあなたが言っている1つの単語を理解していない..." Reimu lamented as she face-palmed.

Marisa tapped her wand a bit against her left hand, as though to fix a problem it is experiencing. "Yannow, Reimu, ya kinda looked fat in this getup of-" She chipped while at it.

The witch suddenly found herself being grabbed by the collar of her blouse by Reimu.

"What's wrong, Rei-" Marisa tried to ask, but is interrupted when the shrine maiden started to shake her furiously.

"FAT?! FAT?! DID YOU JUST CALLED ME FAT?!" Reimu, now speaking Marisa's language, yelled furiously at the top of her voice as she continued shaking the witch.

"SorryIdidn'tmeantosaythatsorrysorrysorrysorrysorry!" Marisa tried to apologize to Reimu, but the shrine maiden continued to shake her with utmost anger.

Meanwhile, the crowd whom have been ignored so far continued to stare dumbfounded at the event unfolding before their eyes.

...

Much later in the day, the initiation ceremony has completely wrapped up, and the crowd departed from the Hakurei Shrine to get back to their daily lives (or work) in the villages.

Marisa, a bit dizzy from Reimu's furious shaking of her, sat on the veranda while leaning against one of the support pillars. The black-furred cat that came with her put a paw to its face, as though mimicking the human act of face-palming.

"Ya don't need to react so comically, Reimu..." The witch told the shrine maiden.

"Don't you dare call me fat again, Marisa..." Reimu responded with a threatening tone while she swept the shrine grounds. "Or I will tell your mother about how you rudely crashed the ceremony."

"Alright, alright, I geddit. Geez, what's your problem with The Runaways?" Marisa said. She then looked around the shrine, as if looking for something, or someone. "Say, where'd Green Hair gone to?"

As if on cue, the "Green Hair" in question appeared from inside the main building, carrying a few cups of tea and a small bowl of rice biscuits with her.

 _"I was not expecting you, Miss Kirisame..."_  Ruukoto greeted.  _"Should I prepare a cup of tea for you as well?"_

Marisa raised a hand to decline. "Nah, I'm good." She said. The witch then noticed that there are five teacups on the tray Ruukoto is carrying. "But ain't that a bit too much for just Reimu?"

"The tea and snacks are not for me alone, Marisa..." Reimu clarified. "They're for  _them_." She added as she gestured to the side of the veranda opposite from Marisa.

Sitting at the opposite side of the shrine is a small group of shrine maidens, whom are chatting among each other. Of course, the current subject of their chat is Marisa herself.

"You girls see how Mr. Kirisame's daughter almost ruined Miss Hakurei's performance with her loud entry?" Asked the purple-haired shrine maiden wearing a red flat cap with three stars on it.

"She's actually friends with Miss Hakurei! What kind of friend do that?!" Said a blonde shrine maiden wearing a red ribbon on her head.

"I wonder if she picked up her delinquent attitude from her mother, who I heard is a westerner?" Wondered a long, dark-haired shrine maiden with a white ribbon at the back of her head.

"I'm also a westerner of Yamato descent, and even I don't get her  _bloody_  attitude..." Commented a shrine maiden wearing a bandanna over her blonde hair, who spoke with a western accent not unlike a certain little puppeteer from Makai.

Marisa, who heard the four lesser shrine maidens' chat loud and clear, can't help but scoff at being their subject. "Well, they kinda remind me of Ako and the others..."

"They're  _shrine maidens_  of their own families' shrines, so please don't compare them with those good-for-nothing witch friends of yours." Reimu rebuked just as she finished sweeping the leaves into a neat pile. "Now, Marisa, you stay here while I go clean up the storage shed..."

With that, the shrine maiden set her broom aside, and went to the storage shed behind the main building.

"Heh. One year later, and she's still pissed 'bout losing her purple hair..." Marisa, now sitting by herself, mused, as she watched Ruukoto putting the teacups and bowl of rice biscuit by the lesser shrine maidens' side. "They kinda remind me of Ako and her gang..."

The witch then noticed the lesser shrine maidens all turning their attention toward her.

"What? Why are ya girls lookin' at me like that?" Marisa asked. "Ya wanna listen to some of my favorite songs? I've got Nine Inch Nails' full collection in here." She added as she raised her song-playing device into view. "No? How 'bout AC/DC? Or how 'bout-"

Marisa's cat put its paws to its face again.

...

Reimu paused as she looked over the exterior of the storage shed. The shed looked like it has not been used by anyone in decades, as the door and the heavy-duty padlock (that is hanging loose) on it are both covered in mosses.

"How long has it been since this shed was last used?" Reimu wondered out loud.

"Very long, I'm sure..." Replied an old, masculine voice.

Reimu looked to her right and saw nobody...until she looked down and saw Genji there.

**Divine Aide of the Hakurei Clan**

**Genji**

"Gramps, you...haven't been inside the shed yourself, have you?" Reimu asked the divine turtle.

"Can't say I have..." Genji replied. "At least not during your mother's tenure as the Hakurei shrine maiden..."

Reimu approached the door of the storage shed, and started trying to figure out how to unlock it. "Are there anything interesting inside that you would like to share?" She took the time to ask a trivial question.

"There are trophies from some of the largest Incidents ever to be solved by the previous shrine maidens..." Genji answered. "Those, and an amulet whose sole purpose is to produce any kind of fragrance..."

Reimu almost collapsed upon hearing the last one. "Fr-fr-fragrance...?!" She uttered in disbelief. "Why does the Hakurei Clan have an amulet with such a mundane purpose?!"

"I...don't quite understand what Ayano was thinking at that time either..." Genji explained, unused to being so awkward. "She was...the quirkiest Hakurei Shrine Maiden I've ever served..."

"I hope she isn't as quirky as Marisa..." Reimu remarked just as she got the door open... by accidentally tearing it down altogether (the hinges have deteriorated after so many decades).

The shrine maiden stared awkwardly at her handiwork before dropping the detached door on the ground.

"Remind me to fix that, gramps..." Reimu said before she strutted into the now-open storage shed, with Genji following right behind.

The inside of the shed is in no better condition than the outside. Thick layers of dust covered most of the things, and the ones that don't have dust on them have what looked like water marks on them, indicative of water dripping down from the leaky roof. At least the contents are all neatly arranged by the last person to have stepped inside the shed.

Reimu coughed a bit from the dust and decades-old stagnant air. She then summoned the Ying-Yang Orb to use it as a light source, illuminating the inside of the storage shed.

Genji was right about the trophies, all of which are stored in glass cases. Though some of the trophies have their glass cases worn out by the lack of maintaining. There are also small wooden chests under the stands in which the trophies are placed on. Reimu opened one of those chest out of curiosity, finding a scroll that described the Incident in which it came from. As the scroll has partially crumbled due to age, Reimu carefully put it back in the chest and closed it. She assumed that the other chests also contained scrolls that described whichever Incidents their accompanying trophies came from, but decided not to disturb them for the sake of preserving history.

There is also a trophy stand that didn't look like it ever had a trophy on it. Genji claimed that all Hakurei Shrine Maidens have at least one extra trophy case prepared just in case.

As Reimu slowly explored the storage shed, she soon came across an ornately decorated wooden chest, which seemed odd as it looked like it hasn't been there for very long, as indicated by the lack of dust or water marks.

"Hm...that is strange..." Genji pointed out. "It appears to be radiating some kind of magic energy..."

Curious about the ornate chest, Reimu approached it, with her gohei ready just in case. She poked the ornate chest with her gohei, and got no response of any kind.

The shrine maiden's curiosity peaked as she went and opened the ornate chest, in spite of Genji warning her to be careful...

* * *

And here you have, my dear readers! The long awaited sequel to  _Young Maiden's Chronicles: Spirit Dream_.

I present to you:  _Young Maiden's Chronicles 2: Seasonal Fantasy_. This story will be covering the Windows Era 1 games, that are:  _Embodiment of Scarlet Devil_ ,  _Perfect Cherry Blossom_ ,  _Immaterial and Missing Power_ ,  _Imperishable Nights_ , and  _Phantasmagoria of Flower View_.

Unlike what ZUN pulled off, though, the PC-98 characters still have roles here. Not as major as they had in  _Spirit Dream_ , but still better than pretending they never existed.

Marisa singing The Runaways'  _Cherry Bomb_ , as well as referencing Nine Inch Nails and AC/DC in name? How does Marisa know about them, you ask? Well, they'll all be explained in  _Young Maiden's Chronicles: Exotic Inventory_ , which will be released within the next day or two.

Also, those four lesser shrine maidens - or Shrine Maiden Mob as I prefer to call them by - are inspired by the nameless shrine maidens drawn randomly by ZUN (except one who's very much the girl from the CD label of  _Dolls in Pseudo Paradise_ ). You can find illustrations of them under "Miscellaneous arts by ZUN" in the  _Touhou_  Wiki.

"And that, as they say, is that..."

The song  _Cherry Bomb_  and its lyrics are the property of The Runaways. Part of the song is used in this story with no profitable intents whatsoever.

_Afterword ends here._


	2. Magical Maiden Hakurei Reimu

**Hakurei Shrine**

Much speculation filled Reimu's thoughts on what the ornate chest might contain as she peeled off the paper charms that covered the lid (these charms are just imitations with no powers, magical or divine). Then she undid the fasteners that kept the lid secure to the chest.

Genji held his breath (not that he needed any as a divine spirit), as he watched the shrine maiden remove the lid of the ornate chest...

...Revealing what appeared to be a paper umbrella in it.

"Huh?" Reimu cocked her eyebrows as she grabbed the paper umbrella with both hands and lifted it out of the chest. "This is it?" She eyed the paper umbrella with disbelief. "I thought such an ornate chest would've store something that at least looked fancy..."

"I would say that I am just as confused as you are..." Genji said.

The two glanced at each other, then turned their attention back on the paper umbrella.

"Just... who left this here...?"

...

Meanwhile at the main building, Marisa is doing her best to impress the lesser shrine maidens...

"-so I based this costume of mine off of a dude from a story told by my mom. With some modifications, of course. This dude's name is Star Lord. Or rather, that's his self-given nickname. His real name is Peter Quill, and he's the leader of this awesome team of ass-kicking heroes called the Guardians of the Galaxy-"

Marisa soon noticed that her speech had gone over the lesser shrine maidens' collective heads, as all four of them looked at her with utter confusion.

"You're not gettin' any of this, ain't cha?" The half-western witch asked.

All four lesser shrine maidens shook their heads. So did Marisa's cat. Ruukoto, on the other hand, simply declined to comment - either verbally or physically - as she collected the now empty teacups and took them back to the kitchen.

"Of course we don't." Said the dark-haired shrine maiden.

"Figures..." Marisa said as she scratched her chin. "As I was saying..." She then continued with her impression. "This awesome team, as their name implies, protects the galaxy from all sorts of bad guys from a damn crazy warlord to a freakin' planet. Of course, they didn't start out as heroes. For starters, Peter was a self-centered pirate-"

"What is that?" Interrupted the blonde shrine maiden with the red ribbon, as she pointed at the sky.

Everyone looked up to see a beam of jade-colored light shooting down from the sky.

"A light?" Marisa wondered. "And it looked like it's hitting the...storage shed?"

...

Back at the storage shed, Reimu had decided to put the paper umbrella back into the ornate chest, and decided to leave it behind. She then decided she should clean up the shed, starting with removing all the unneeded items from it.

Of course, with the ornate chest being the only thing that appear to be unneeded, it is the only thing that Reimu has taken out of the shed.

The ornate chest is actually heavier than it looked. The shrine maiden massaged her shoulders after moving the chest out of the shed and putting it down in front of the entrance.

"I still don't get this thing..." Reimu said as she turned her attention back on the paper umbrella. "Why would any one of the previous Hakurei shrine maidens keep something so... ordinary? It's even in very good shape, as though it was supposed to be a treasured possession..."

"The answers continue to elude my thousand years old knowledge..." Genji said as he scratched his forehead.

"You don't know either, gramps?" Reimu expressed. She sighed, as she took the paper umbrella out of the chest and held it in her hands again. "It would've been something unique if not even you knows about it. And yet it looked just like any umbrella you could buy cheaply in the village of Touhou-Ri. Or Hoppou-Ri, ev-"

The shrine maiden paused when she looked up in the sky and noticed a jade-colored glow in the clear blue sky.

"Genji, are you-"

"I see it too, Reimu. It feels like... divine magic?"

All of a sudden, the glow in the sky morphed into a beam, which shone itself on Reimu. Or rather, the paper umbrella in her grasp.

The jade-colored beam only shone on the paper umbrella for a few seconds before it faded away as quickly as it came.

"What is going on?" Reimu wondered as she turned her attention on the paper umbrella.

Before the shrine maiden can get an answer, the paper umbrella suddenly reacted, glowing intensely as it released a huge amount of white magic energy.

"Wh-what is this?!"

"It appears to have absorbed the divine magic of the light!"

At the same time, the four lesser shrine maidens and Marisa (with her cat resting on her shoulder) rushed to the storage shed to see what is going on. They too are surprised by it.

"Hey, Reimu! The heck's goin' on?!" Marisa exclaimed, raising her right hand to shield her eyes from the intensifying glow.

Reimu isn't able to answer as the glow is reaching peak intensity.

Soon after that, changes began to occur on Reimu...

The shrine maiden's crisp white haori jacket morphed into a bright red top with a frilly rectangular white collar decorated with a yellow ascot. Her sleeves widened as ribbons appeared around their ends. Her slightly dark red ankle-length hakama skirt morphed into a bright red frilly skirt which went only halfway past her thighs, as white leggings with similar designs as the sleeves materializing to cover what of her legs that the skirt did not. Her geta shoes then morphed into a pair of knee boots. Only her hair tubes and ribbon remain unchanged.

Once Reimu's outfit has been magically changed, the paper umbrella wrapped itself in the same white magic aura as the glow become to intense that everyone had to look away or cover their eyes.

When the bright light receded seconds later, everyone in the immediate area finds that Reimu is no longer holding the paper umbrella. It appears to have transformed into a gohei that is longer than Reimu is tall, with a  _haraegushi_  that is just as long attached to it.

Of course, everyone's immediate attention are not on the long gohei that had replaced the paper umbrella. Rather, the center of the attention is Reimu herself.

"What just happened...?" Reimu wondered out loud as she stood where she is, dumbfounded. She quickly noticed that everyone are staring at her. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

The lesser shrine maidens made no response.

"Uh, how should I put this...? Your... outfit?" Marisa stuttered trying to come up with an answer.

Confused by the half-western witch's statement, Reimu inspected the frilly, flashy outfit that had magically replaced her normal shrine maiden robes...

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"WHAT THE MAKAI?!"

...

**Misty Lake**

In the center of the Misty Lake, there is a small island.

The small island is seldom visited, even by fairies, due to being enveloped deep inside the lake's namesake mist. All anyone knows about the small island is that nothing lives on it except for a few weeds.

However, that is about to change...

The thick mist and ambient silence that have enveloped the island since its very beginning are disturbed when a tiny ball of magic energy suddenly appeared not too far above it.

The tiny ball of magic energy soon began its slow descend toward the island. In the process of doing so, it spawned a small, mild vortex around itself, only made visible by the lake's mist being caught in it.

As the ball neared the ground, the vortex surrounding it began to shrink in size. The weeds flapped in sync with the billowing of the mild vortex.

Soon, the ball of magic energy touched down. The vortex dissipated altogether at the same time.

All of a sudden, the tiny ball expanded into a massive size instantly, covering almost all of the island.

The magic ball remained in place for several minutes before dissipating, revealing in its place a massive manor of western architecture made of marble with different shades of red all over, topped by a clock tower with a golden clock face and diabolic-looking spears as clock hands.

Standing on the balcony of the manor are three people, all inside a translucent red hemisphere which is surrounded by five differently colored crystals that are hovering off the balcony.

"And now, it is time for the inhabitants of this land to kneel before their soon-to-be ruler..." Declared the one clad in red and with bat-like wings.

**Lost Daughter of Vlad Tepes**

**Remilia Scarlet**

"That is I, Remilia Scarlet, the Lost Daughter of Vlad Tepes!" The red-clad lady finished her declaration before raising a fist into the air. "And there is nothing that can stop me!"

If the red-clad lady, Remilia, is expecting something dramatic to happen, she doesn't seem to be getting it, either from the environment or her audience of only two people. The next few seconds was silent enough that the three people could hear each other's soft breaths.

"That is the 666th time you've made the same declaration in your lifetime, Remi..." One of the audience of two - a pink-clad lady with purple hair and is reading a book - deadpanned to Remilia.

Hearing that, Remilia lowered her hands before going through a slight charisma break. "Nnnnggghhh... Why do you always have to ruin the dramatic moment, Pache?! Ju-just do as we've planned!"

...

**Hakurei Shrine**

After the strange event that had occurred, everyone gathered at the front of the shrine to discuss about it.

Or so they initially planned to...

Reimu, not liking her currently bright red and frilly outfit, did everything she could to try to undo the transformation. From tapping both ends of the extra long gohei on the ground, to holding it over her head as though pleading to the heavens, to even making ridiculous poses and shouting ridiculous phrases (all of which are suggested by Marisa, much to Reimu's chagrin)...

None of it worked. Reimu's bright red, frilly outfit did not revert back to her normal shrine maiden robes.

Genji is practically overworking his brain trying to figure it out.

The shrine maiden sighed. "Just... what is with this flashy,  _ridiculous_  outfit...?" She complained as she tugged at the yellow ascot tied to the rectangular collar of her top. "This looked like something only a...only a  _fairy tale heroine_  would wear!" She then turned her attention on the sleeves. "And  _these_  looked like they could be detached!"

Marisa sounded like she is snickering at Reimu's overreaction. "I dunno. I've heard of plenty of guys and girls who wore more ridiculous outfits as superheroes. Then again, none of 'em are real, so..."

The lesser shrine maidens couldn't help but giggle at Marisa's statement.

Reimu then approached Marisa. "So what?! I am the shrine maiden of the Hakurei Shrine! And this!" She emphasized by tugging at her skirt. "This is so short! And then there's these stockings... Why do I have to bare my thighs?! I look so indecent in this!" She ended her ramblings by bringing her foot down.

The shrine maiden stomped the ground hard enough that a small foot-sized crater was formed right there.

Everyone went silent as they slowly turned toward the crater that was formed unexpectedly.

"Uh... Have you ever stepped hard enough to do that before?" Marisa raised a question, unsure of what to make of it.

Reimu nervously shook her head. "No. I'm just as surprised as you are..."

It is at that moment that Ruukoto emerged from the kitchen, carrying freshly refilled cups of tea on a tray.

 _"There appears to be a localized mild tremor right outside the main building, and it appears to have lasted only a split second..."_  Said the green-haired maid as she placed the tray of teacups down on the veranda.  _"Might I inquire exactly what had just happened?"_

Everyone remained silent for the next few seconds, due to being unsure of what to say.

"It's a long story..." Reimu answered, before quickly grabbing a cup of tea and gulping down its contents.

The shrine maiden didn't even finish the cup of tea before the teacup inexplicably imploded in her hand.

Reimu's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates at the thought of having just crushed a ceramic teacup with just one hand. A  _bare_  hand at that.

Marisa's cat meowed in a way that sounded like it is saying "What the heck?"

"Did I just..." Reimu, retracting her hand while thinking about her unexpected handiwork, uttered in bewilderment.

Marisa interrupted Reimu by grabbing her hand. "Well, look at this. Clearly your...uh... transformation gave ya more than this admittedly silly-lookin' outfit..." The witch then reached for the extra long gohei, only to immediately retract her hand the moment she touched it. "...And this magic staff/pole thing that just freakin' zapped me..." She added while massaging her zapped hand. "What I'm gonna say is that-"

 _"'With great power comes great responsibility'?"_ Ruukoto interrupted.

Marisa snapped her fingers. "Yeah! That's what I was gonna say! A dude called Peter Parker was told that in regards to his superpowers! But the point is that ya need to be responsible with your newfound powers, especially one ya barely understand!"

Reimu, not getting Marisa's reference  _and_  point, raised her eyebrows with all the confusion she has gotten in the past hour.

 _This is going to be a very strange day for me..._  Reimu thought.

...

**Touhou-ri Village**

Having been confused enough by the unwanted transformation, Reimu decided to cool off by flying off to Touhou-ri - the closest village to the Hakurei Shrine (the lesser shrine maidens went back to their respective shrines after that). She had expected that her bright, frilly outfit (and the umbrella-turned-gohei that caused it to begin with) would be very eye-catching to the villagers and cause debates about it. But the shrine maiden is not in the mood to pay attention to them. She came here specifically to take her mind off of the matter.

Unfortunately for Reimu, Marisa decided to follow her to Touhou-ri, and the witch just  _won't_  shut up about her "great responsibility" speech and the stories she kept citing as her reference points. Even Marisa's cat, tucked under her hat, is finding it annoying as it pressed its paws over its ears in an attempt to block out the speech.

"-While the phrase 'with great power comes great responsibility' is specifically tied to Peter Parker, it actually applies to the heroes of the Marvel stories that my mom told me about. Like for example: Tony Stark with his fancy suit of armor, Steve Rogers with his super soldier powers, Stephen Strange with his wizard powers, et cetera. Okay, I know it doesn't really apply to Peter Quill, since he and his Guardians buddies are all a bunch of a-holes, whom got little respect even after kicking the ass of this egomaniac called Ronan, and this  _even bigger_  egomaniac who literally calls himself Ego-"

It doesn't look like the witch is going to stop anytime soon...

"Marisa, would you kindly..." Reimu tried to grab the witch's attention.

But Marisa didn't notice, as she went on with her speech. "Of course, all this 'with great power comes great responsibility' thing apply to just about any heroes, not just the Marvel ones, and they don't have to have superpowers either. There's this guy called Ethan Hunt-"

"Marisa... Shut. Up!" Reimu's finally had enough, as she interrupted Marisa by shoving her...

Hard enough to send the witch crashing into a ramen stand. Marisa's cat meowed in surprise as it crashed into the stand together with its master.

Good thing for Marisa that the stand is still being set up at the time, so there are no boiling hot soup spilled on her (or anywhere else). But the stand's owner is definitely angry about having her stand trashed.

Reimu clearly didn't expect the result, as she approached the stand's owner and apologized. Then she turned toward Marisa. "Are you alright?"

Marisa groaned as she got up from the wrecked remains of the ramen stand. "Geez, ya sure got one heck of a shove there, Rei..." She snarked. "Ya coulda just told me to shut up..."

"I'm so sorry..." Reimu apologized as she helped Marisa get up. "It's just that-"

"Looks like the two of you have some kind of problem there~" Chipped a familiar voice from behind Reimu.

The shrine maiden turned around, and found herself facing a pair of formerly maniacal red eyes.

**Not-So-Maniacal Law Enforcing Princess**

**Sonozika Kotohime**

"Oh, it's you..." Reimu dully greeted Kotohime who at the moment is in uniform.

Marisa, on the other hand, waved her hand at Kotohime while treating her like an old friend (despite being not). "Hey there, Constable! Ya lookin' for something to do?"

Kotohime  _scoffed_  in response, much to the surprise of both Reimu and Marisa. "Actually, I'm the Chief of the Gensokyo Police Force now~"

"Wow, congratulations!" Marisa said as she extended her right hand toward Kotohime for a handshake.

The not-so-maniacal princess refused the handshake. Not surprising, given her history with Marisa last year. "It was nothing, thief..." Kotohime said, suddenly dropping her usual air-headed demeanor, much to Reimu and Marisa's surprise (again). "My niece, that is, the previous chief of the GPF, insulted a western woman on the sole basis that she is not Yamato..." She seemingly groaned at the thought, as she did an aside glance. "The village elders deemed her to be presenting a bad image of the GPF, so they unanimously voted to kick her out..."

"Ouch." Marisa winced at the thought. "Talk 'bout responsibility..."

"Speaking of responsibility, Miss Kirisame~" Kotohime pointed out, her usual cheery demeanor returned. "I want to talk to you about those little witches who follow you all the time..."

"Ya mean Ako and her gang?" Marisa interrupted. "Yeah, I know about that stunt they pulled a while back. But no worries, Miss Mima has already punished 'em."

"That, and your association with the evil spirit, Mima..." Kotohime added as she pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "As well as your numerous charges of burglary and-"

Marisa's cat suddenly leaped out from under her witch hat, and pounced on Kotohime, causing her to fall on her back. The cat, standing over the not-so-maniacal princess's face, assumed an intimidating stance as it hissed at her.

"Cut it out, Shade. Ya don't have to be so rough." Marisa told her cat as she picked it up.

The cat meowed in response.

"Whaddya mean, 'she's becoming a threat'? She's just doin' her job as police chief!" Marisa answered back, somehow understanding what her cat was saying.

Reimu blinked in confusion as to how Marisa is able to perceive her cat's meows as a language.

Kotohime wiped the dirt and paw prints off her face, then she stood up and dusted her police uniform clean. "Wow, that's a cute little fellow! Just like Ellen's Socrates~" She, forgetting what she was saying prior to being pounced on, chirped as she playfully extended a hand to tease the cat, who hissed and tried to claw at her.

"Her name's Shade." Marisa introduced her cat to Kotohime. "She just showed up at my house one day, and I figured that a witch ain't complete without a cat, so I kept her."

"Why 'Shade'?" Reimu raised a point. "That sounds very sinister to me..."

"I was gonna call her Salem, but that name was already taken. Hence Shade." The witch explained as she tucked her cat under her hat. "Actually, I had plenty of other names in mind. It's just that-"

The sudden cry of a villager brought the conversation to a halt., and grabbed the attention of everyone.

It quickly became apparent why the cry happened: a thick aura of red suddenly appeared out of nowhere and quickly enveloped the whole sky, bathing all of Gensokyo in a shade of scarlet.

"What is happening?!"

"Is this the work of a Youkai?!"

"Are we going to die?!"

The villagers talked about the event worriedly. The sound of children crying can also be heard, as parents hurriedly escorted their children indoors.

Marisa, however, isn't worried one bit. In fact, she seem excited as she summoned her magic wand into her hand. "Well, whoever's doin' this, they're sure gonna get some ass-whoppin'!" She then turned toward Reimu. "Just like Makai, eh?"

"This has little in common with Makai..." Reimu said, momentarily forgetting about her bright, frilly outfit as she stood up front with a serious expression. "But it is an Incident that needs to be solved, and you need the Hakurei shrine maiden to do it."

Marisa then gleefully patted Reimu on the back. "Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout! Maybe we could be like the A-Team...no wait, those guys are all Mundane humans. Maybe the Avengers? But we've got just the two of us right now... How about Charlie's Angels...?"

Reimu groaned at Marisa's references, as she face-palmed on the spot. "Just... please, shut up,  _Genevieve_..."

Marisa stopped with her references upon hearing that. "Hey!" She called out to the shrine maiden, feeling offended by being called her middle name.

* * *

And so begins the  _Embodiment of Scarlet Devil_  Arc...

If Reimu's transformation reminds you of a magical girl transformation sequence, that is because it  _is_ my intention (this chapter's name should've tipped you off already). I'm making this version of Reimu basically a shrine maiden-themed magical girl, complete with superpowers such as super strength and sixth sense. And yes, she can transform back at any time, she just haven't figured it out yet. To quote a  _G-Mod_  newbie: "How do I shot web".

And here's Marisa making a boatload of pop culture references, including but not limited to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. "How does she know about all these pop cultures?" you might ask. The answer is simple: she got them from Claire Rainymist, aka her mom (introduced in  _Exotic Inventory_ ). It's like I'm implying that Marisa's mom might not be a Gensokyian of American descent, but actually  _be_  from the United States. And since this story is supposed to be set in the 2110s, it means that Marisa (and her mom) are making references to pop culture from as far back as the  _1990s_ , with her name-dropping  _Charlie's Angels_...

Next up: Reimu comes up with the Spell Card Rules to help her win fights and solve Incidents, but finds out that it doesn't make things any easier...

"And that, as they say, is that..."

_Afterword ends here._


	3. First Sortie

**Hakurei Shrine**

In order to prepare for her first ever Incident as a full-fledged shrine maiden, Reimu returned to the Hakurei Shrine (alone, as Marisa took a detour) to pick up everything she will be needing.

First, she grabbed several stacks of Ofuda, as they turned out to be the most useful tools in her arsenal in the Mystic Square Incident from last year (she made sure to pack more than she did last year just in case she gets afflicted with another curse). Then she picked up her usual gohei, as she is  _not_  going to use the extra-long one that put her in this frilly outfit (she put it into her hyperspace sleeve). After that, she picked up the Ying-Yang Orb which she spent the months after the Mystic Square Incident practicing attacking with.

And next, the Exorcising Needles. These are given to her by Konngara after her trip to Makai just in case the first three items proved ineffective against an opponent. Though Reimu is a bit skeptical about the usefulness of the Needles (mostly because they looked more like oversized nails with Ying-Yang symbols on their heads than actual needles).

With that, Reimu then ran through her mental checklist to make sure she has everything she need.

That's when she remembered one last thing...

The shrine maiden went to the cupboard, and pulled open one of the dozen drawers, revealing its content: a stack of cards, each with holy runes drawn on them.  _Spell Cards..._ _I hope they work..._  She thought.

Reimu carefully removed the cards from the drawer. She had spent the past few months making and designing the Spell Cards whenever she isn't training to be shrine maiden. These cards came to be because Reimu was tired of having too little firepower against powerful opponents like Mugetsu, Gengetsu, Yuki and Mai, and made them as a means of storing large amounts of magic in portable vessels to be unleashed as firepower later. Of course, she needed help from Marisa with making them work. Furthermore, she hasn't got the time to test any of them.

Nevertheless, Reimu decided to take the entire stack of Spell Cards with her. She hoped they would actually work the way she intended.

With everything she need picked up, the shrine maiden then walked out of the shrine, ready for her first sortie...

"Are you sure you are up to the task?"

Reimu stopped after just a few steps away from the shrine upon hearing a familiar voice from behind her.

"It is my duty, after all." Reimu answered, without turning around to face the speaker. " _Someone_  has to do it..."

**Astral Knight**

**Konngara**

Konngara, sat directly in front of the donation box, nodded in response to Reimu's answer. "While I do not deny the capabilities you proved yourself to have at Mugenkan and Makai, you must know that..."

"Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong." Reimu interrupted. "Marisa told me that. I think she called it Murphy's Law."

"No..." Konngara shook her head as she shook her head. "One who possesses power must possess responsibility."

Reimu sighed. "Oh, that one. 'With great power comes great responsibility'? Marisa told me that several times today, so no need to say it again..." She said as she prepared to leave.

"There is something else I wish to talk to you about..." Konngara added, making Reimu pause in her tracks.

"Let me guess..." The shrine maiden said with a groan. "You want to comment on this ridiculous outfit I'm wearing right now...?"

"Not the clothes itself. But rather, the magic energy surrounding it..." The Astral Knight corrected.

Reimu perked up upon hearing that, turning around to face Konngara. "What about it?"

"I assume it wasn't your intention to activate the Sacred Hakurei Gohei?" Konngara began by asking.

"You mean this one?" Reimu asked for clarification as she pulled the extra-long gohei out of her sleeve. "It's not like I wanted to activate..."

All of a sudden, Reimu was enveloped by the same bright glow from before. The difference this time is that it lasted for just a second before fading away, the shrine maiden's outfit having reverted to the white haori jacket and red hakama skirt she was wearing before. The extra-long gohei also transformed back into the paper umbrella it was before.

"...it?" Reimu finished her sentence before blinking a couple of times in confusion.

Konngara nodded as she observed.

"This is all it takes to change back?" Reimu said, quite surprised but not enough for an exclamation.

"The true nature of the Sacred Hakurei Gohei continues to puzzle me until now..." Konngara explained to the best of her knowledge. "While you currently admit that you are not ready for its powers, you will know you are when the goddess Amateratsu let you know..."

Reimu waved her hand in denial. "As if I will ever be ready for such an embarrassing outfit..." She scoffed as she stuffed the paper umbrella into her sleeve. "Now then, tell Genji and Ruukoto that I will be back by... probably the evening..."

With that, the shrine maiden took off into the air, and then flew northwards where she thinks the scarlet aura came from...

...But not before flying straight into a flock of birds that are just passing by. "Pichun!" She exclaimed.

...

**Marisa's House; Forest of Magic**

_"~Getting down and dirty with a Procyon Lotor~"_

A song with catchy lyrics accompanied by loud instruments is playing in the background while Marisa picks up the supplies she will be needing to solve the Incident.

In actuality, Marisa have only a handful of supplies she needed, and she got all of them rather quickly. So for now, the witch is just dancing to the song that is being played by her music-playing device. Shade the cat, on the other hand, finds the song too annoying for her cat ears, and is covering them for the entire duration of it.

Since the song isn't being played at a very high volume, it doesn't drown out the knocking on the door, which Marisa did pause her dancing routine to answer while the song continued to play in the background.

Standing outside Marisa's house is the Little Witch Mob.

"Hi~" Ako and her gang greeted.

"What are ya girls doin' 'ere?" Marisa asked.

"Well, because of the red mist in the sky..." Ako is the first to speak up.

"Miss Mima cancelled today's lessons..." Markle comes next.

"We've got nothing to do for now, so we were wondering if we could borrow another one of your... DVDs?" Suza finishes for the gang.

Hearing that, Marisa's eyebrows narrowed. "Ya think I've forgotten about how ya already blew up one of my DVDs last week, along with the TV and DVD player ya bought from Rinno?"

The little witches then glared at Markle.

"I didn't mean to blow up  _Doctor Strange_! There was a cockroach at that time!" Markle protested as she threw her arms into the air.

"You could've shot it-" "-with a sleep spell-" "-Dummy." Fey and Rey pointed out to the explosive little witch, speaking the first two thirds of the sentence separately before finishing the last third together.

Marisa took a step forward to defuse the argument before it can really begin. "Oh, never mind that. I forgive y'all..." She said as she put a hand on Ako's shoulder. "Not like a repair spell's hard to cast..."

With that said, Marisa turned and walked back inside her house. Just a few seconds later, she came back out holding a small flat casing in her right hand.

"Alright, ya girls, here's my favorite movie -  _Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2_." The witch said as she passed the small flat casing to the Little Witch Mob. "Make sure ya ain't gonna break it again, else it's the last movie y'all get to watch."

The little witches accepted the casing. "Thank you, Miss Marisa!" They all said in unison before happily running off with their prize.

Though the happiness is short-lived for Ako as she then slammed face-first into a tree, which is immediately followed by a Kedama landing right on top of her. The klutzy little witch ended up needing help from her friends to get rid of the furry pests.

Marisa can't help but giggle at the sight of her little friends flying off with the DVD of her favorite movie.

At the same time, the song that has been playing in the background the whole time is coming to its end.

_"In these times of hardship, just remember: we are Gr-"_

Marisa ended the song by tapping on the song-playing device once.

"Well, enough foolin' round..." The witch told herself as she placed the song-playing device into the pocket of her coat. "Time to go kick some ass with Reimu!"

...

**North of Hoppou-ri Village**

To the north of Hoppou-ri - one of the five human-inhabited villages of Gensokyo - is a large rice field that stretches from the village's northern walls to a few kilometers away from it. Usually, farmers worked hard in the field, taking care of the rice crops by removing weeds and pests from them, while children would occasionally play games near it.

But today, the rice field is devoid of human activities, everyone having evacuated to their homes in the village when the scarlet aura appeared and enveloped the skies of Gensokyo, bathing everything in a red hue.

Or at least, that's what Reimu thought until she saw two people standing in the middle of the rice field while she is flying over it. One of those two people is almost invisible due to her red hair and equally red outfit blending in with the red hue of the background.

Although she's only ever run into them two or three times ever since they found asylum in Gensokyo last year, Reimu is still able to recognize them at first glance due to the various technologically advanced equipment they are often seen with (none of which the shrine maiden even knows a word for).

And so Reimu landed a short distance behind the duo and then walked toward them. "What are you two doing here?" She greeted them with curiosity.

**The Magical Land's Omni-disciplinary Scientist**

**Professor Okazaki Yumemi**

"Oh, hello there, Reimu~" The redhead professor turned around and greeted. "Chiyuri and I are just collecting data on this Scarlet Mist that has suddenly covered all of Gensokyo~" She then paused briefly to stuff a piece of candy into her mouth (which Reimu could tell is strawberry pink despite the red hue covering everything). "Rikako is back in the  _Fantasy Legend_ , helping us compiling the data." She added.

**Scientist's Assistant**

**Kitashirakawa Chiyuri**

"So I've heard that you've just become a full shrine maiden." The blonde assistant looked up from a mid-sized device she was working on. "Congratulations. But I'm sorry we missed the ceremony, though..."

"Actually, I'm kind of glad you missed it..." Reimu said as she recalled how Marisa had almost ruined it.

Chiyuri didn't know why Reimu said that, but she assumed the worst and decided not to pursue the answer.

"My condolences." Yumemi, who overheard it, said.

Reimu shrugged. She's glad that the outsider scientists decided not to find out the details. She'd commit  _sepukku_  if they ever learn about her embarrassingly frilly outfit that came after the ceremony...

"Hey there, Little Miss Frilly Dress!"

And there goes the secret.

Blushing in embarrassment, Reimu covered her face with both her hands as Marisa hovered over on her flying broomstick.

"Oh, I guess ya figured out how to transform back..." Marisa remarked upon noticing that Reimu's clothes has changed back to normal.

"Transform? What do you-" Chiyuri asked, wondering what the witch was talking about, but stopped mid-sentence as she realized the implications. "Oooohhh~" The assistant stood up and walked toward Reimu. "I guess you're a magical girl now, eh~?" She teased and nudged the shrine maiden with her elbow.

Yumemi didn't make any comments. The redhead professor just laughed as she created a mental image of the "frilly dress" (which is not even close to the real thing).

Reimu's face became redder behind her hands, so much that the redness can be seen seeping over to her ears.

"Aw, shucks..." Marisa scratched the back of her head. "I was kinda hopin' to be the Maria Rambeau to Reimu's Carol Danvers..."

Chiyuri and Yumemi stopped laughing as they stood where they are, smack-jawed. Although the two outsiders get the witch's reference, they clearly never expected to hear that reference anywhere in Gensokyo. "What?"

Reimu, on the other hand, didn't get the reference, and even if she did, she is currently too embarrassed about the main topic to care.

Marisa quickly noticed the outsiders' reaction to her reference. "What's wrong? Ya look like ya just saw Freddy Krueger..." She asked the two.

"Was not expecting you to make reference to our world's pop cultures." Yumemi explained. "How did you-"

The conversation was interrupted when a boulder-sized danmaku appeared out of nowhere and fell into a nearby pool, creating a large splash of water that then rained down on everyone present.

"You missed!" A high-pitched voice is heard ranting somewhere close near by. "How could you miss?! They were three feet right in front of you!"

There is no need to guess who is responsible, as everyone turned their attention toward the source of the ranting.

Hiding behind an empty barrel is a pair of Flower Fairies. One is being slapped repeatedly by the other, who is apparently the one ranting.

It took those two fairies a while to realize they got their targets' attention in a way they didn't want, as they stopped what they are doing.

"Eh heh heh... Hi there, how would you like a sho-"

The Flower Fairies weren't even able to move another muscle before Marisa fired a spell that blew up the barrel, and them along with it.

"Is that all ya got!" Marisa taunted the defeated Flower Fairies as she spun her magic wand.

As soon as Marisa finished her taunt, a hundred more fairies appeared from all over the place and surrounded everyone.

"You had to ask..." Reimu chided Marisa for jinxing the situation.

"At least we ain't fightin' Ultron..." The witch said sheepishly.

* * *

Sorry, no Spell Card actions here. Though I did introduce the Spell Cards here. And you'll have my reassurance that Spell Cards will be used for real for the first time in the next chapter.

Speaking of Spell Cards, I decided to make this incarnation of the Spell Card be a very recent thing in-universe. So recent in fact, that Yukari has  _no role_  in its creation, only Reimu and Marisa (so far) knows Spell Cards exist because they are the co-creators here, and that their intentions is to just make sure they can dish out as much firepower as their opponents can. As such, don't expect Rumia, Cirno, or the SDM crew to start flinging Spell Cards anytime soon, because here they  _don't know_  about it yet. Because this version of Spell Cards are basically just spare ammo rather than legally required equipment, there won't be a Spell Card  _Rules_ , but a Spell Card  _System_  instead.

That said, though, the original intention of the canon Spell Card Rules - that is, the winner cannot exterminate or eat the loser unless either combatants resorted to lethal methods beforehand - still stands.

Gee, Marisa is so familiar with outside world pop culture (down to having a DVD collection of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe) that you'd think she's born in the United States and then got whisked away to Gensokyo later in her life. Well, that's definitely not true for her, since her dad is native Gensokyian. But as for her mom...

For why Chiyuri and Yumemi are so surprised at Marisa referencing  _Captain Marvel_ , it's not because she knew the movie and its elements. They were thinking of magical girl anime and manga at the time, such as  _Sailor Moon_  and  _Pretty Cure_  (in reference to Reimu's "frilly dress transformation"), and a reference to a western superhero movie is the last thing they expected to hear in an isolated realm like Gensokyo.

And as I've said before, I won't go Zun's route of pretending the PC-98 characters never existed, and thus will be giving them roles or at least acknowledge their existence here.

Finally, I've decided that there will be no more "on the next chapter" previews, since my way of writing stories often meant that the next chapter ended up having little to do with the given previews. That said, I'm sorry about saying "Reimu finding out that Spell Cards doesn't make things easier" in the previous chapter when it isn't established in this chapter at all.

"And that, as they say, is that."

_Afterword ends here._


	4. Spell Card Attack

**North of Hoppou-ri Village**

Fairies are dumb, mischievous, annoying, forgetful, and weak. Everyone living in Gensokyo knows that (except the fairies themselves).

But everyone also knows that fairies will, for some reason, become more aggressive when there's a major Incident going on. And that is exactly the case right now, with the Scarlet Mist making the fairies aggressive in their attacks against Reimu and Marisa.

Yumemi and Chiyuri hunkered down as danmaku began to fly from every direction, especially from Reimu and Marisa as they fired back at the fairies.

Although Yumemi's priorities were a bit skewed at the moment. "Chiyuri, are the instruments recording all this?" She asked her assistant.

As soon as the professor finishes her sentence, the device standing on a tripod - the most crucial of the research instruments - gets hit by a stray boulder-sized danmaku and explodes into pieces, with the tripod toppling over afterwards.

"Not anymore." Chiyuri deadpanned in reaction to the instrument getting destroyed.

At the same time, Reimu and Marisa continued their shootout against the fairies, who seemed to be relentless in their desire to take down the shrine maiden and the witch. And for ever 10 fairies that get knocked out, 20 more seemed to appear out of nowhere to take their place.

"Hey, Rei!" Marisa called out to Reimu as she fired at the fairies with her magic wand. "There's only the two of us and hundreds of 'em! We're gonna need more than what we can dish out  _right now_!" She dodged a boulder-sized danmaku before firing a spell at the fairy that fired it. "Remember that thing we worked on?"

Reimu wished she could simply shoot her way through the swarm of fairies, like she did in the five Incidents she tackled last year. But Marisa was right, she need much more firepower than the individual shooting can give her in order to deal with this swarm of fairies.

"This better work..."

Still doubting what she is going to do, Reimu reached into her sleeve to pull a Spell Card out. Then she held the Card out in front of her face, and focused her magic energy into it.

The Spell Card didn't need much magic energy to start reacting. Within a split second, the Card began to shine brightly, enough that every fairy and Marisa stopped right in their tracks, and Yumemi and Chiyuri looked up from their position on the ground.

" ** _Fantasy Seal_**!"

With a loud declaration, Reimu released the magic accumulated in the Spell Card, which manifested as five large orbs of energy in different colors that then shot out in different directions, wiping out every fairy that gets in their way.

The fairies started to stage a retreat in panic upon seeing their brethren getting wiped out of the air by the orbs of energy. But try as they might, the orbs were much faster, and could seemingly seek out targets on their own, and soon most of the fairies in the vicinity of the rice field are knocked out of the air.

The bloodless, non-lethal carnage ended with the orbs converging on a single fairy - the last one still standing - and then blowing her up.

The Spell Card stopped shining once its effects are over. Meanwhile, Reimu just hovered there, astonished by what she just unleashed.

"Holy... Expletive!" Marisa commented, her jaws wide open due to the sight she just saw.

Yumemi, however, was rather excited by the sight. "Mary, mother of God! That is even more awesome than the holographic fireworks display MIT showed the world on January 1st, 2100 A.D.!"

Chiyuri is impressed by the danmaku display made by Reimu's Spell Card. Not so much on how her redheaded professor is acting. "Do you need to act like a teenager..." She stopped herself upon realizing what she just said. "Oh wait, you  _are_  a teenager. Never mind..."

Yumemi then turned toward her assistant. "Chiyuri, the instruments! Did they capture anything about the display?!" She asked excitedly.

"The only one that was supposed to have done it was wrecked by the fairies, remember?" Chiyuri said bluntly, while pointing at what is left of the tripod-mounted device.

Yumemi's excitement deflated quickly afterwards as she then pouted. "Remind me to armor the instruments when we get back..."

"You two..." Reimu spoke up, reminding the two outsiders of her presence. "Go hunker down somewhere safe. We're in the middle of an Incident right now, and you both saw how aggressive the fairies can be."

Yumemi and Chiyuri glanced at each other.

"She's right, professor." The assistant said. "The middle of a war zone is no place for us scientists."

"I was just about to say that." The redhead professor acknowledge. "Pack up everything, Chiyuri. We're going back to the ship."

With that, the two outsiders collected everything they've brought here, before activating their jet packs and flying away from the site.

"I guess this proves that Spell Cards are gonna work, right?" Marisa asked as she brandished a Spell Card of her own that she hasn't used yet. "Man, I can't wait to test out mine!"

Reimu, however, responded by shaking her head. "I'm glad that they work as I wished. But-" The shrine maiden then gestured toward Hoppou-ri Village. "I think we should watch  _where_  and  _when_  we use them."

Marisa looked at what Reimu is pointing at, and instantly got the intent of the message. "Uh, yeah. Gotta work on that. Ya ain't gettin' any respect if ya cause collateral damage all the time, as the Avengers found out the hard way..."

...

**Misty Lake south shores**

Reimu and Marisa continued heading northwards after dealing with the fairies at Hoppou-ri.

The girls' trek has led them to the southern shores of the Misty Lake. Despite the lake's thick mist and the red tint created by the Scarlet Mist, they can still see that something in the center of the Lake, deep within its namesake mist, is producing the Scarlet Mist.

"So I'm guessin' that whoever is causin' all this is right over there." Marisa pointed out.

"Obviously." Reimu responded bluntly. "And whatever might be causing it, I'm going to stop them."

Marisa glanced at the thick mist, then back at Reimu. "But we can't see a damn's worth in there! How are we gonna-"

Reimu suddenly became very alerted of something, as she scanned her surroundings.

"What's wrong, Rei?" Marisa, having no idea what is going o with the shrine maiden, asked.

"I think-" Reimu, feeling somewhat uneasy, answered. "-Something is approaching us-"

Without finishing her sentence, Reimu quickly turned around to swipe her gohei at a huge black blob that suddenly appeared behind her. The reflexive attack caused the black blob to reel back before sinking into the ground.

"A Youkai!" Reimu said.

Marisa didn't need to be told to get ready for a fight. "Whoa! That one came outta nowhere!"

"So keep your eyes out for it!" Reimu said as she summoned the Ying-Yang Orb to her side, and held out her gohei with her right hand while holding three Exorcising Needles with her left.

Marisa held her magic wand out, ready to blast any enemy that might appear suddenly. "It's a good thing we made those Spell Cards. Otherwise, it's gonna be one heck of a dogfight."

"If there is anything I've learned from last year, it is that nothing is ever easy." Reimu said while being vigilant of the surroundings. "And that Youkai tend to not play fai-"

Before Reimu can finish her statement, the huge black blob reappeared in the shape of a maw lined with sharp teeth.

The black blob closed its maw around Reimu with lightning speed, and then started to behave in a way that made it look like its chewing.

"Reimu!" Marisa became alarmed, as she produced one of her own Spell Card and prepared to use it against the black blob.

As the witch prepared her attack, the black blob suddenly stopped chewing as it began to expand uncontrollably.

It wasn't very long before the black blob burst like a balloon, as Reimu forced her way out of it with her gohei held out like a spear.

"How dare you eat the Hakurei shrine maiden?!" Reimu shouted at the black blob, which had disappeared again. "This is only my first day! I could've lost all respect!"

Marisa rolled her eyes. While she is glad that Reimu is not hurt, she is wondering why the shrine maiden is more concerned about losing her respect than, say, her  _life_.

"Ya alright?" Marisa asked the shrine maiden.

"I am. Thanks for asking." Reimu answered as she adjusted her hair ribbon. "Some Youkai that was..."

The girls then noticed that the black blob appears to be reforming itself, as pieces of it gathered back together into a single spot. Once the blob reached its full size again, it then dispersed itself in a controlled manner.

Hovering there, at where the black blob was, is what appeared to be a little humanoid girl with red eyes and short blonde hair with a small red hair bow, wearing a black vest and skirt, and a white blouse with a red tie.

"You taste very... sweet~!" Said the little girl as she smacked her lips.

* * *

You can definitely guess who this is.

Sorry for the delay. I was so hyped about the premiere of  _Avengers: Endgame_  that I totally forgot to write this chapter last week. It was a really hyped movie all over the world (with tickets here sold out  _before_  April even began), and I've been looking forward to watch it too. "Whatever it takes", indeed!

Anyway, I originally planned for the black blob to be just that, a black spherical blob. But then Zun announced  _Wily Beast and Weakest Creature_ , and as I took a look at Reimu's unusual shadow in that game's title screen, I immediately thought to myself, "Hey, that looks like a form a certain shadow Youkai could use!" and here you have. What a way to introduce the first ever boss to use Spell Cards.

As I mentioned before, Spell Cards in the YMC-verse don't work the same way they do in canon, although the general idea of non-fatally subduing the opponent is still there. I don't need to remind you in every single chapter, so please remember it.

"And that, as they say, is that."

_Afterword ends here._


	5. It is Pitch Black

**Misty Lake south shores**

"Can I eat you?" Asked the innocent-looking blonde girl who Reimu and Marisa knew is a Youkai, while she spread her arms out.

"Didn't you just ate me?" Reimu replied with a rhetoric question.

"I wanted to taste you first~" The Youkai said childishly. "I'm sorry for being so rude~" She then lowered her arms, and curtsied. "Let me introduce myself~"

**Little Shadow That Came To Life**

**Rumia**

"My name is Rumia~" She introduced herself. "And I like to eat humans~"

Reimu and Marisa both blinked.

"Wow, that's pretty honest of ya..." Marisa commented.

"And you just made yourself clear that you're an enemy..." Reimu then added.

Rumia just giggled childishly. Apparently the two girls' comments didn't register to her childish mind.

"They say magic-capable humans taste better than Mundanes~" Rumia said.

That statement instantly rang alarm bells in Reimu and Marisa, as they started firing danmaku at Rumia.

The little living shadow was pretty agile. She easily dodged all the danmaku, while still giggling childishly.

"They were right~!" Rumia said, as she formed two small black orbs over her hands. "And I want seconds~"

Rumia then begins her attack by flinging the orbs out, which multiplied into a shower of black danmaku.

Reimu and Marisa tries to dodge the shower and then return fire like they've always been. But the little living shadow was very small and agile, and her shadow danmaku quickly multiplied from a shower to a thick barrage, making it very difficult to land a hit on her.

"Jeez, this is already damn tough for a first one!" Marisa exclaimed, as she produced a Spell Card of her own, along with a jar of something. "I guess it's time to say hello to my little friend:  _ **Stardust Reverie**_!"

As the witch cast her first Spell Card, magic energy flew out from the card and poured into the jar, which she throws out with all the strength her arm has. The jar then exploded, scattering its contents as danmaku at all directions.

The Spell Card didn't produce as many danmaku as Rumia's attack did, but its danmaku is placed in a formation that is too tight for even the little living shadow, resulting in her getting pelted several times and causing her to reel back a bit.

Marisa cheered at the success of her Spell Card. "Ha! Eat that, ya little canni-"

"Marisa," Reimu interrupted. "did you just use  _my_  emergency candy stash as ammunition for your Spell Card?!"

Marisa shrugged in response. "Well, kinda..."

Hearing her response, Reimu angrily grabbed Marisa by her collar, and shook her. "Why would you?! I was saving them for after we solve this Incident!"

"Calm down, Rei!" Marisa apologized whilst the shrine maiden shook her. "I'll pay ya back double! I promise!"

Reimu continued angrily shaking Marisa. "Double is not enough! I want triple back! You hear m-"

The shrine maiden's overreaction is interrupted when Rumia reappeared and fired off another barrage of danmaku.

The two girls broke off their quarrel to avoid getting hit.

"This isn't over yet,  _Genevieve_!" Reimu told Marisa as she threw a few Ofuda at Rumia.

"I said I'll pay ya back! Jeez, what a sweet tooth ya have..." Marisa responded and then sulked, as she then activated Orrerries Solar System with another Spell Card and started pelting Rumia with a barrage of danmaku.

Rumia easily dodged the barrage by flanking around the two girls. "Please don't push yourselves too hard, or you'll become too stiff and taste bad~" She casually said, as she conjured two small black orbs by her sides and fired black beams from them.

Reimu and Marisa both braced themselves to dodge the black beams, only to find out that the black beams weren't aimed at them at all. Both girls went to think that Rumia must've had a very lousy aim...

Until they both suddenly felt a sharp pain surging through their bodies.

Reimu pressed her left hand over her right shoulder - that is where she felt the sharp pain. "Wh-what is going on?! We weren't hit at all!"

"How should I freakin' know?! Magic?!" Marisa cried out. She pressed a hand over the left side of her waist, enduring the sharp pain while trying to keep herself balanced on her flying broomstick.

Rumia giggled. "Tehehe~ I'm sorry if this hurts, I'm softening you up so you'll be easier to chew~" She then fired two more black beams.

The beams went past Reimu and Marisa and once again, causing the girls sharp pain despite missing them.

"No one is chewing anyone today!" Struggling against the sharp pain, Reimu launched the Ying-Yang Orb at Rumia in retaliation.

Rumia dodged the Ying-Yang Orb by somersaulting over it. "What an energetic prey~" She said cheerfully. "You'll surely taste good~" The little living shadow then prepared to fire another pair of black beams.

Suddenly, the Ying-Yang Orb came back on its return trip to Reimu, and hit the little living shadow on the back of her head, which threw off her aim as the beams are fired.

This time, the black beams didn't cause Reimu and Marisa any sharp pain at all. If Rumia was aiming at something else to cause the girls sharp pain, then getting hit on the back of her head must have caused her to miss her intended target completely. Reimu and Marisa glanced behind them, and that's when they learn exactly what Rumia had been firing at with her black beams...

Their shadows. Although the scarlet aura had blocked much of the sunlight from shining upon Gensokyo, enough still made it through for everything and everyone to cast a visible shadow.

"Okay, I don't know how it works, but now I know that she was firin' at our shadows." Marisa pointed out.

"Then make sure our shadows don't get hit." Reimu said, as she took the opportunity of Rumia being disoriented by the earlier hit to throw some more Ofuda at her.

"Noted, and count me in!" Marisa responded, as she directed the multicolored orbs orbiting her to fire at Rumia.

The still disoriented Rumia took the full force of the retaliatory barrage, reeling back for each danmaku and Ofuda that hit her.

"Ow ow ow! This hurts!" The little living shadow cried out, as she raised her arms to shield herself against the barrage, to no avail. After spending half a minute getting pelted by danmaku, Rumia couldn't take it anymore, and transformed back into a black spherical blob before she disappeared by sinking into the ground.

Not taking any chances, Reimu and Marisa fired at the ground where Rumia disappeared into. When they're done blasting that patch of the ground a minute later, a crater was left in its place.

"Yeah, that's right, ya little cannibal!" Marisa proceed to taunt the little living shadow. "Run back to ya MOM!"

The witch then noticed Reimu rolling her eyes at the taunt. "What does her mother has to do with this?"

"I'm really referrin' to her mom, if she even has one..." Marisa attempted to explain the meaning of her taunt. "Ya see, it was meant to be a joke where one person mocks another person by insulting their moms..."

Reimu is further confused by the explanation.

"Ya know what? Forget it..." Marisa decided to not explain it any further. "Let's just call it a grave insult to her dignit-"

All of a sudden, several black spike-shaped danmaku shot out from the ground directly below the witch, shattering all four of the multicolored orbs that make up her Orrerries Solar System spell, which in turn brought down the shield that protected her.

"What the...?!"

Before Marisa could make any further reactions, Rumia reappeared as a black spherical blob with a maw lined with sharp teeth, which she immediately closes around Marisa with lightning speed.

"Marisa!" Reimu worriedly cried out, as she prepared to pelt Rumia with more Ofuda.

But Rumia didn't even try to chew Marisa. The witch was spat out almost as quickly as the living shadow had closed her maw around her.

"Ugh, now that's gross!" Marisa, left dangling on a tree after being spat out, complained.

Reimu breathed a sigh of relief.

In the meantime, Rumia transformed back into her humanoid form. She looked like she was retching, as though having just ate something disgusting.

"Eew, you taste  _very_  bad!" Rumia loudly complained while scrubbing at her tongue in an attempt to get the bad taste off.

Marisa, for some reason, seems enraged by the little living shadow's statement. "What was that?! I tasted disgusting?! How dare ya!" The witch summoned her flying broomstick over, then hopped onto it before producing another Spell Card from under her witch hat. "I'll tell ya what's gonna taste  _really_  bad for ya!"

Upon activation, the Spell Card glowed brightly and spawned a large magic circle in front of Marisa.

Reimu's eyes widened as she recognized that particular magic circle. It was the exact same one Marisa summoned back at Mugenkan and Pandemonium last year. The shrine maiden quickly descended toward the ground and took cover behind a boulder.

"Yippe ka yay, ya lil' cannibal!" Marisa said as the magic circle began to emit an increasingly intense bright glow. " ** _MASTER SPARK_**!"

With that, the mountain-destroying beam emerged from the magic circle, producing an ear-shattering noise as the multicolored pillar of destructive light tore through the air in its way. Rumia, who was smack in the middle of its trajectory, was unable to get out of the way and took the full force of the beam.

The beam lasted for a full minute before dying down, leaving a trail in its wake that went much further north toward where the scarlet aura came from. In the middle of the trail laid Rumia, having survived the evisceration but is mostly charred and knocked out.

"Let there be light, bitch." Marisa quipped as she put the spent Spell Card back into her hat. She then tipped her hat in a way to make herself look more impressive.

Reimu poked her head out from behind the boulder where she took cover. The shrine maiden, having been disoriented by the ear-shattering noise produced by the Master Spark, shook her head a bit to get a better hold of her position.

"Marisa, you seriously need to, as your mother often puts it, dial things down a bit..." Reimu told Marisa. "And why would you be offended about a Youkai telling you that you taste bad?!"

* * *

Nothing better than to end the fight against Rumia with Marisa's iconic Master Spark.

As you can see here, this version of Master Spark can be casted without needing the Mini-Hakkero. All Marisa need to do here is to activate the Spell Card, and then brace herself before unleashing her love-powered annihilation. Of course, this version of Master Spark is so much more powerful that if it wasn't a Spell Card, it would produce about as much killing power as a  _nuclear bomb_.

With that, I'll end off this chapter with the reassurance that the next chapter will see the debut of a certain nine-ball ice fairy.

"And that, as they say, is that..."

_Afterword ends here._


	6. The Misty Lake

**Misty Lake**

After defeating Rumia, Reimu and Marisa left the little living shadow behind as they continued their way northwards, toward the center of the Misty Lake where the Scarlet Mist originated from.

"As much as I'm glad that we kicked her ass," Marisa decided to start a conversation. "I kinda felt bad tying her to a tree..."

"Me too..." Reimu agreed. "Even though she tried to eat me, and you..." She then remembered something. "By the way, why are you so offended when she said you tasted bad?" She asked Marisa.

The witch shrugged. "I dunno. I just felt like it was pretty offensive to be told that, for some reason..."

Reimu rolled her eyes. "You're a strange person."

Marisa shrugged. "Mom sometimes say strange stuff too. So  _maybe_  I got it from her?"

Reimu rolled her eyes.  _Gaijin..._  She thought to herself.

The duo are then alerted to the presence of incoming foes by a burst of danmaku flying past them.

"We've got company!" Marisa said as she activated Orreries Solar System (as a Spell Card rather than having to take time drawing a complex circle of runes). "Ah, I wish I could listen to some Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath right now..."

A swarm of fairies quickly came into view. Some actually emerged from beneath the surface of the lake, and wasted no time firing danmaku at Reimu and Marisa. There are also some fairies in fancy dresses and sun hats, wielding swords (that are somewhat well-made) as their weapons.

The girls easily dodged the barrage, then wasted no time firing back at the fairies, taking down a dozen in quick succession. As with usual, more fairies continuously appeared to replace the ones that are taken out.

Reimu then launched the Ying-Yang Orb out, taking out one fairy after another via a series of ricochet.

The ricocheting Ying-Yang Orb seemed unstoppable as it continued its streak of dropping each fairy it hit, then ricocheting to another (sometimes with the effect of causing the just-knocked-out fairies to misfire danmaku at one of their own). Some fairies even tried to attack the Orb, either by shooting it with danmaku or trying to hit it with their swords, all to no avail.

A green-haired fairy with gilded wings is the next to be targeted by the Ying-Yang Orb. However, the fairy blinked out of existence at the last second, causing the Orb to plunge into the lake and killing its knockout streak.

That fairy soon blinked back into existence right in front of Reimu, as she then fired a barrage of danmaku at the shrine maiden at near point-blank.

Caught by surprise, Reimu barely managed to dodge the barrage, getting grazed several times in the process. She then tries to shoot back, only for the gilded wings fairy to blink away again.

"Be careful, Marisa!" Reimu called out, while pressing a hand on her waist where she was grazed. "One of the fairies can teleport!"

"Yeah, I saw that pesky little pest!" Marisa replied, as her Orreries Solar System spell continued to thin out the fairy swarm.

As soon as the witch finishes her reply, the gilded wings fairy reappeared directly behind her, firing a surprise burst of danmaku that took out one of the multicolored orbs of Orreries Solar System. Marisa immediately turns around to shoot at the fairy, only for her to blink out of existence again. As the witch gets temporarily distracted by a group of sword-wielding fairies, the gilded wings fairy reappeared and quickly took out another multicolored orb, then disappeared again as Marisa turned to her direction.

"Dang, that fairy's pretty smart!" Marisa complained as she continued firing at the other fairies with the remaining two multicolored orbs. "Ain't ever seen one like her!"

The gilded wings fairy then reappeared, and quickly made short work of the remaining two multicolored orbs, thus disabling Orreries Solar System. The fairy then blinked away again as quickly as she appeared.

"Oh, jeez!" Marisa panicked just as the fairies noticed her loss of firepower and began to focus their attacks on her.

Marisa would've been overwhelmed had Reimu not tossed a few Ofuda into the incoming swarm of fairies to take them out in a series of explosions.

"I hope you have more Spell Cards than the ones you've used so far..." Reimu told Marisa as she summoned the Ying-Yang Orb over, and then fired danmaku at the few fairies that the exploding Ofuda did not take out.

Marisa adjusted her hat. "I've got five more Cards with me. And thanks for the save, Rei." She then produced her magic wand and resumed shooting at the fairies.

...

After the remaining fairies have been dealt with, the gilded wings fairy reappeared before Reimu and Marisa again. This time, however, she appeared to be nervous about something.

"What is she doing?" Reimu wondered. She prepared herself to attack just in case. "She was very serious moments ago, and now..."

"She looks like she wanna say something..." Marisa told Reimu. She then turned toward the fairy. "Ya wanna say something? C'mon, spit it out."

The gilded wings fairy nervously fiddled with her fingers for a bit. She was about to say something when...

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING TO ELF?!"

A fairy with blue hair, wearing a blue dress and hair bow charged into the scene loudly, startling both Reimu and Marisa.

"Nobody messes with the friends of the Strongest!" The blue fairy then proudly boasted while wearing a smug grin on her face, as well as crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Reimu and Marisa both locked eyes with this loud, scenery-chewing fairy who came out of nowhere all of a sudden, certain that she is a threat.

"You sounded like you think of yourself as a big shot around here..." Reimu said to the blue fairy. "So pardon me for being from somewhere else. Who are you?"

**The Strongest(?) Ice Fairy**

**Cirno**

"I'm Cirno, the fairy of ice. But you can call me the Strongest!" The blue fairy introduced herself in a scenery-chewing way. "And this is my best friend, Lunate Elf." She added while gesturing at the gilded wings fairy who is cowering behind her.

**Greater Fairy**

**Lunate Elf**

"I-I-I'm sorry if Cirno hurts you later..." The gilded wings fairy, Lunate Elf as she is named, stuttered apologetically before blinking out of existence.

The blue fairy, Cirno, has not noticed that her friend has teleported away. "You're trespassing on my turf! And I'm going to show you why you shouldn't have!" She told Reimu and Marisa. "Come on, Elf, let's ki-" She then turned to tell her friend, and only then did she notice that Lunate Elf has disappeared. "Huh?"

Meanwhile, the shrine maiden and witch who acted as the audience to this lengthy introduction of the ice fairy, glanced at each other.

"What a dumbass..." Marisa commented. "Feels like one of those cheesy moments from  _Thor: Ragnarok_..." She then mumbled to herself.

"Yes. A dumb- _arse_  indeed..." Reimu, finding the ice fairy's attempt at chewing the scenery to be somewhat funny, agreed with the witch's former comment.

The two girls' comment, however, seemed to have drawn Cirno's attention in a way that appear as though she felt insulted.

"What was that?! Did you just call me dumb?!"

* * *

And now, introducing the Strongest(?) fairy in Gensokyo...and her friend.

Yep, this chapter is a set up for the introduction of Cirno and Daiyousei - who will be called Lunate Elf in the YMC-Verse - and showcase just how much of a dumbass the former is before we get to the battle against her.

As for why Elf eventually stopped attacking Reimu and Marisa just before Cirno's appearance, that's because this incarnation of Cirno is a bit more aggressive than her canon self, and people have sometimes been actually hurt by the cold she emits (the Little Witch Mob were lucky they got away unscathed back in  _Little Witches' Misadventures_ ), and Elf here is trying to persuade the girls to just turn back, but got interrupted by Cirno before she could utter a word.

And sorry for being so late with updating this story. Got really busy with real life matters that are out of my control. By the way, I'm planning to open a dedicated Discord channel for the YMC-Verse. It's not open yet, but I will announce it on the official  _YMC_  Tumblr page once I'm done. So stay tuned!

"And that, as they say, is that..."

_Afterword ends here._


	7. The STRONGEST

**Misty Lake**

"THOSE WHO CALL ME AN IDIOT, ARE THE IDIOTS!"

Following her angered yell, Cirno began to slowly unleash her powers, causing the surrounding area to become as cold as the middle of winter, and the surface of the Misty Lake around her immediate area to freeze instantly.

...Or not, as that is all happening in the ice fairy's head. From Reimu and Marisa's POV, Cirno is just assuming a pose that resembled an idiot trying to look terrifying and ended up looking silly instead.

"This one is so full of ego..." Reimu deadpanned as she watched Cirno "raging".

"She looked like she ain't got no brains  _or_  brawn..." Marisa also deadpanned.

The girls watched on with raised eyebrows as Cirno continued her "rage-induced empowering" phase.

"Should we just shoot her right there?" Marisa pondered the option as she raised her magic wand.

"Go ahead. I was going to, myself." Reimu responded to the witch, as she raised her gohei with the same intent.

Having made their decision, the girls proceed to fire at Cirno, while the ice fairy is still focused on her "empowerment".

Cirno did notice the attack. In response, she cancelled her "empowerment phase" to form a chunk of ice which she used as a shield to block the danmaku.

"I guess you're the impatient type! In that case, we should make this quick!" The ice fairy announced, then formed a sword made of ice before charging toward Reimu and Marisa.

...

"Pache..."

"Yes, Remi?"

"I can feel the defenders of this land coming close."

"And?"

"I want them to see this manor in its mighty glory, let them know just how powerful I am, and how little hope they have at defeating me."

"This is just a rundown mansion your father claimed as a spoil of war 500 years ago, which you then refurbished with all kinds of unnecessary decors that made it look more silly than intimidating. If anything, the defenders you mentioned will ignore how it looked, and just barge their way in..."

"Nnnggggghhhh... You've just ruined the atmosphere again! Can't you ever be anything but a deadpan?! Ju-just make sure they can see this manor!"

...

While Cirno did the smart thing using a shield made of ice, she simultaneously did the stupid thing by fighting with a sword against two people with experience in danmaku, one of who also has experience in hand-to-hand combat. Doesn't help in the ice fairy's case is that there is nothing superpower-related about her swordplay aside from her flight capability.

That being said, Cirno is still a fast-moving small target. So actually hitting her is difficult even if her attacks are pathetically easy to dodge or parry.

Reimu raised her gohei to parry a diagonal slash from Cirno. She then raised her legs in an attempt to kick the ice fairy away, but is unable to reach her. Reimu opted for a headbutt instead, which worked as it sends Cirno backing away, disoriented by the blow to the head.

"Strange..." Reimu wondered as she rubbed her forehead. "I thought a headbutt will disorient both the target and the user..."

In the meantime, Marisa took the opportunity to fire at the disoriented Cirno.

Cirno recovered fairly quickly, as she raised her ice shield to block the danmaku. However, ice isn't as tough as wood or metal, especially for a shield that is to be small and light enough for a fairy to carry. As such, on top of the damages it has already suffered, the ice shield didn't last more than a few seconds before it shattered, allowing the rest of Marisa's danmaku to hit her.

Astonishingly, Cirno withstood what should have downed a fairy instantly. But it still strained her a lot to stay in the fight after taking those hits.

"You may be able to hurt me, but I, the Strongest, won't go down so easily!" Cirno declared, then dispelled her ice sword and raised both her hands up, firing what appeared to be a weak-looking blue beam into the sky.

Reimu and Marisa didn't think much about the ice fairy's weak little gesture. Then they noticed pebble-sized chunks of ice beginning to rain down from the sky.

"Ha! Have a taste of my special: Icicle Fall!" Cirno declared and then laughed loudly. " _Ice_  to see yo- oh..."

The ice fairy's gloating grinded to a halt when she realized that the rain of ice didn't reach far away enough to even bother Reimu and Marisa.

"Really...?" Marisa rolled her eyes at both the hilariously ineffective attack and the lame pun that came before it. "That is the lamest pun I've ever heard. Even James Bond can do better..."

"Lame?!" Cirno became outraged. Apparently ice fairies have next to no tolerance for minor insults. "I'll show you what is-"

Cirno's rant was interrupted thanks to the Ying-Yang Orb slamming right into her face.

"Most fairies may be stupid," Reimu complained as she called the Orb back to her. "but they are still smart enough to know when to  _shut up_!"

At the same time, Cirno tumbled out of the air and fell into the lake with a splash after being knocked out by the Ying-Yang Orb.

It was very anti-climatic, but Reimu is glad that the noisy, scenery chewing ice fairy is gone for now.

" _Ice_  to see ya too, Frosty!" Marisa followed on with a quip, then taunted the ice fairy by pulling one of her eyelids. The witch paused as she noticed her companion's confused look. "Uh... terrible pun intended?" She added.

"Pun? What pun?" Reimu asked with a quizzical tilt of her head.

"It's a pun with the words 'nice' and 'ice'. Y'know, because they rhyme?" Marisa tried her best to explain to Reimu, only to confuse the shrine maiden even more.

That was when the witch remembered that she and her companion literally aren't speaking the same language - Reimu in Yamato, and Marisa in her western language. The translation spell is the only reason they could even understand each other (or any other non-Yamato people in Gensokyo, for that matter). Marisa figured that the pun doesn't translate well into Yamato, and so Reimu heard a more straightforward sentence from her perspective.

"Oh right. Ya don't speak a lick of my language, while I don't speak a lick of yours. Literally." Marisa said as she scratched the back of her head in realization. She then spent the next few seconds wondering what she sounded like if she - from Reimu's perspective - spoke entirely in Yamato.

At that moment, Cirno emerged from the surface of the lake, lower body still underwater, before waving a clenched fist at Reimu and Marisa, and yelling, "You may have beaten the Strongest, but you haven't seen the last of-"

"Oh shut up, ya loudmouth!"

Marisa didn't even wait for Cirno to finish her declaration. She just fired lightning from her magic wand at the lake, electrocuting the ice fairy as well as any fishes that are unfortunate enough to be near her at the moment. A few seconds later, Marisa dispelled her lightning spell, and there is no need to guess what happened to Cirno.

"I know fairies can resurrect themselves at a later time, but isn't that a bit overkill?" Reimu asked Marisa as she un-summoned the Ying-Yang Orb.

"Ain't got no such thing as overkill!" Marisa cheerfully answered.

Just as Reimu is about to open her mouth to say something, she is interrupted by a bright flash that occurred for a split second.

"Did you see that?" Reimu asked, blinking her eyes several times as she try to compute what that split second bright flash was.

"I sure did..." Marisa answered. "Is something comin' our way?"

* * *

Strongest? More like  **loudest**.

Anyway, here's the anti-climatic battle against Cirno that you all have been waiting for. It took so long because I was very busy with real life stuff lately, and this might be the case for the rest of year.

Also, if you think the battle against Cirno is anti-climatic, that's because it  _is_  my intention. Cirno may be the strongest fairy in Gensokyo, but she is still a fairy, and it has already been established in canon that fairies in Gensokyo are so low on the power scale that even ordinary humans with the slightest combat capabilities can hand them their asses easily (before you say LoLK, that doesn't count due to some rock-paper-scissor things going on). Cirno may be above other fairies in the power scale, but she is still below everything else, and thus can't possibly beat anyone (except perhaps the Little Witch Mob, and that's only because they were ambushed) in a straight fight.

Before I end off this chapter, I would like to announce that the official Young Maiden's Chronicles Discord server is finally up and running (well, since about three weeks ago as of this writing). You can find the invite link to it in the [YMC Tumblr](https://youngmaidenschronicles.tumblr.com/post/185424383654/ymc-discord-channel-now-open) page (or click [here](https://discord.gg/uREV9ZF) to go there directly).  In addition, I'm planning to resume updates to  _Mystical Knowledge_ soon, seeing as I've left Bella and friends in the shed long enough. Also, I currently have an independent secret project in mind. What is this secret project, you might ask? Well, all I can say is that it'll be another fan remake. You'll see soon enough.

"And that, as they say, is that."

_Afterword ends here..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would've named this chapter "The [Ice Fairy] Strongest" and put a strikethrough on [Ice Fairy] if the system allowed formatting of titles.


	8. Don't Simply March In

**Misty Lake**

"Is something comin' our way?" Marisa asked as she rubbed her eyes after the bright flash earlier.

Reimu merely blinked in response to the bright flash... until she sensed something. "Or maybe  _someone_  wants us to head their way..."

At first, there was nothing. But very soon, the mist began to disperse in an unnatural way.

"Izzat what I think it is?" Marisa asked with doubt in regards to what is revealed by the parting of the mist.

At this distance, it was impossible to see the small details, especially when literally everything looks red thanks to the scarlet aura. But one can still tell that it is a mansion. More precisely, a western mansion painted in different shades of red, topped by a clock tower with a golden clock face.

"That must be what's creating the scarlet aura." Reimu said, taking note of the crimson stream of energy shooting up into the sky from the mansion. "And whoever is living in it must be powerful."

"Whoever they are, we'll just have to kick their asses to end all this!" Marisa proudly said, as she tipped her hat. "Because that's what heroes do!"

"Nobody is a hero here." Reimu countered. "It is my duty as the Hakurei shrine maiden to take care of anyone and anything that threatens Gensokyo, and you are just tagging along."

That said, the shrine maiden then flew off toward the mansion, leaving Marisa behind.

"Tagging along? Jeez, you ain't fun sometimes..." Marisa complained as she followed Reimu toward the mansion.

...

The closer Reimu and Marisa got to the mansion, the more intense everything felt. But the intense feeling is not a mental one. Rather, it is due to them being so close to the source of the scarlet aura.

"No kiddin'..." Marisa remarked, noting the scarlet aura erupting continuously from the mansion. "Whoever's doin' this must be one heck of a powerhouse."

"And probably has an ego as big as Gensokyo itself." Reimu added.

As the girls approached the small island that housed the mansion, they quickly noticed the complete lack of fairies anywhere near it. The ones that have been trailing behind them didn't just hesitate, but outright  _refused_  to go any closer.

"The fairies aren't getting any closer, despite us being very tempting targets right now..." Reimu took note just as the fairies dispersed toward every direction save for the mansion. "Whoever is in that mansion, they scared the fairies so much that they'd rather keep away from it than approaching like the arrogant idiots they usually are..."

Nothing else notable happened as Reimu and Marisa continued their approach toward the mansion before touching down on the small island that it resides on.

"Well, someone's tryin' real hard to tell us not to mess with 'em..." Marisa remarked.

"I agree..." Reimu said.

The mansion looked more imposing when the observers are this close to it. Even with the scarlet aura painting the entire atmosphere in a shade of red, one can still see that most of the mansion is painted in such a shade of red that blood is the first thing to come to anyone's mind; the darkness beyond all of the mansion's windows make one wonder what sort of nocturnal beast dwell in it; intimidating-looking stone sculptures of demonic creatures lined the edges of the roof; the extravagant clock tower actually having diabolic-looking spears as clock hands... It is as if the tenant wants to send Gensokyo and its residents a message that they are not to be trifled with...

Although one aspect of the mansion's front gate made the rest of it really hard to take seriously...

"If that's really the mansion's gate guard, then the tenant may have to reevaluate their choice of employees..." Reimu commented.

"Yep..." Marisa agreed with the shrine maiden.

Standing in front of the mansion's front gate is a red-haired woman in a green oriental dress, who has somehow managed to fall asleep while standing upright (and is even snoring in the meantime).

Reimu and Marisa stared at the sleeping gate guard in disbelief.

"Oh well, that just makes it easier for us to get in." Marisa said as she hopped on her broomstick. She then slowly approached the gate guard, and lightly poked her cheek. "Hard to believe she ain't fired yet-"

All of a sudden, the witch felt something wrapping around her right leg. She looked down, and saw that it is the gate guard's hand that's grabbing her.

At that moment, the gate guard's eyes opened in an instant ("Ah, crap..." Marisa uttered), before proceeding to yank Marisa off her flying broomstick and smash her right into the ground several times at the pace of a pendulum, leaving Marisa lying in a crater by the time it is over.

Reimu covered her mouth and gasped as she bore witness to the event.

Despite being smashed several times into the ground, the last of which is hard enough to leave her in a crater, Marisa is still able to crawl out of the crater to rejoin Reimu by her side.

"Are you alright?" Reimu worriedly asked Marisa.

"That hurt a lot, but I'm okay!" Marisa answered as she slowly stood up, with much of her body still sore from the smashing. "Now I know how Loki felt about bein' smashed by the Hulk..."

Reimu blinked in response. That's Marisa G. Kirisame and her  _gaijin_  humor as usual, alright. Always have the mood to snark about something...

That being said, though, the mansion's gate guard has already woken up, and has already assume a battle stance as she glared at the two girls.

It looks like she won't let anyone through without a fight, and a fight certainly looks inevitable at this point...

* * *

Woo yeah! Finally dealt with the busy times IRL! And boy, am I glad to be able to get back to working on this story (and everything else I'm working on as well)! Although I'm kind of sorry that this chapter is so short, because I wanted to get it over with ASAP.

That being said, here's the newest chapter, where Reimu and Marisa will have to get through our favorite Chinese gatekeeper before they can get inside the SDM.

In other news, I will be putting  _Exotic Inventory_  on hold until I finish the  _EoSD_  arc of  _Seasonal Fantasy_ , while I will be resuming updates to  _Mystical Knowledge_  after seven months of hiatus, with the latest chapter to be posted in around today or tomorrow. Speaking of  _MK_ , I've been pondering if I should up its ratings to T on Fanfiction Dot Net and Teen And Up Audiences on AO3, since there are some very sensitive topics of the nearly-political kind that are prevalent (despite remaining not the focus) in its later chapters.

Before I sign off, you guys have probably noticed on the YMC Tumblr as well as my FF and AO3 profiles that I've posted  _Luna Nova: School For Witches_ , my fan remake of  _Little Witch Academia_. Give it a read if you like  _LWA_  as well!

"And that, as they say, is that..."

_Afterwords end here..._


	9. Mistress of Kung-Fu

**Outside the Scarlet Mansion**

"Identify yourselves!" The redheaded gate guard demanded as she assumed a combat stance.

Marisa, despite having just got smashed several times against the ground like a hammer, stepped forward and assumed a cool-looking pose. Although she made sure to kept her distance from the gate guard so the same thing doesn't happen again.

"The name's Marisa G. Kirisame! Me and my friend are gonna kick your ass, then your boss's ass so we can get rid of this scarlet aura that's all over Gensokyo!" The witch, with her magic wand aimed at the gate guard, hammily introduced herself.

The gate guard maintained her pose, but one can still see that she is scanning her surroundings.

"That is strange..." The gate guard suddenly became confused as she took note of the scarlet aura enveloping Gensokyo and blanketing everything in a red tint. She even broke her stance to stand and speak like a normal person. "Nobody told me anything about this..." She then tilted her head quizzically.

Reimu lowered her arms and glanced at Marisa. "Apparently, whoever caused this Incident did not inform all of their employees about their plans."

Marisa lowered her magic wand. "Doubting your boss now? How 'bout-" She then attempted to make an offer...

Which is immediately interrupted and simultaneously rejected as the gate guard re-assumed her combat stance. "Trying to get me to defect? I don't think so!" She said defiantly.

Reimu glared at Marisa for thinking of trying that. "That sounded more like an attempt at bribery than diplomacy..." She pointed out.

In response to the interruption and glare, Marisa simply shrugged. "Oh well. That was worth a sho _WHOAH_!"

Reimu quickly grabbed Marisa by her collar, and pulled her back just in time to avoid a danmaku the gate guard shot at her.

The danmaku went on and blew up a nearby tree.

Reimu then counterattacks by throwing several Ofuda at the gate guard, who easily parried them all by literally punching them out of the air. This parry had both Reimu and Marisa going wide-eyed.

After finishing her parrying strikes, bluish-white aura began to radiate from the gate guard's clenched fists.

**Mistress of Kung-Fu**

**Hong Meiling**

"My name is Hong Meiling, and I am obliged by my duty as the gate guard to keep all uninvited guests out! So bring it!"

...

**Inside the Scarlet Mansion**

"Remi, it seems that Meiling has just engaged those two 'defenders' in battle..."

"Good. This will be fun to watch..."

"Whatever you say, Remi. I will be in the library if you or Sakuya needs me..."

"Can't you ever be not so deadpan?!"

...

**Outside the Scarlet Mansion**

The now-named Meiling begins her attack by punching the ground with her aura-coated fist, sending out a shockwave that tore through the ground as it made its way toward Reimu and Marisa very quickly.

Reimu is able to dodge the shockwave by simply taking off into the air. But Marisa, unable to fly without her broomstick that she dropped behind Meiling after the smashing earlier, had to resort to conjuring a magic shield to block the shockwave, which didn't work as the attack went right through the shield and knocked her over her feet.

"Marisa!" Reimu cried out.

"Don't worry!" Marisa responded as she got back up to her feet. "Keep that damn bitch distracted so I can get my broom back!"

Whether Reimu heard that or not is unknown, as she then countered Meiling's attack by firing danmaku at her.

Turns out Meiling's aura can double as armor, allowing her to parry those danmaku as though she was wearing metal gauntlets.

With the gate guard momentarily distracted by Reimu, Marisa pointed her magic wand at her fallen broomstick and casted a spell, ""PULL!"

The spell caused the broomstick to be pulled toward Marisa. However, Meiling noticed it and with her lightning-quick reflexes, snatched it mid-trajectory before snapping it in half over her knees and throwing the halves over the gate of the mansion.

Marisa definitely isn't happy about that. "Oh, I'm so  _gonna_  royally screw ya. But before I can do that..." She then excuse herself to the sidelines where she wouldn't get in Reimu's way or become one of Meiling's targets. "Be right back!"

At the same time, Reimu continued to pelt Meiling with danmaku and Ofuda, which she all easily parries or dodge. Realizing that her shots aren't getting through, Reimu decided to call forth the Ying-Yang Orb and launch it toward Meiling.

Meiling attempted to parry the Orb like she did the other projectiles, but the Orb is much more powerful than she expected, as she gets knocked off her feet and sent flying into the gate hard enough to cause it to buckle. With that impact, Meiling seemingly passed out, with the aura on her hands fading away afterwards.

Reimu, not quite believing that it would be so easy, landed on the ground and slowly approached Meiling. She prodded the gate guard with her gohei just to be sure.

"So that's it?" Marisa wondered out loud as she emerged from her not-hiding spot. "I thought for sure she'd be like Shang-Chi on magical steroids or somethin'..."

Reimu turned to glance at Marisa, and rolled her eyes as she doesn't get Marisa's reference. "What are you talking ab-"

All of a sudden, Reimu gets the feeling that she  _has to_  duck down, which her body did without her conscious input. As she unconsciously ducked down, she saw Meiling's aura-coated fist flying over her head and hitting Marisa right in the face, knocking Marisa right off her feet.

Amazingly, all Marisa got from that superpowered punch is a single tooth getting dislodged, which she then spits out. "Ooh, I'm gonna be feelin' that 'til next morning..." She snarked as she got up from the ground.

As amazing as Marisa's durability is, Reimu is more amazed by the fact that she subconsciously knew an attack was coming, and subconsciously dodged it.  _Was that some kind of intuition?_  Reimu wondered, still trying to process all of it in her mind.

Her so-called intuition activated again, this time telling her to get off the ground. She did so by jumping, again subconsciously, just in time to see Meiling's low kick sweeping under her feet.

Still in mid-jump, Reimu then countered with a flying roundhouse kick across Meiling's face.

Merely flinching from the kick, Meiling continued the fight by delivering a series of punches and kicks. All of which, to her surprise, are easily dodged or parried by Reimu.

"I know you are thinking how this is possible. Trust me when I say that so am I..." Reimu told Meiling, after the former had caught one of the latter's punches.

Reimu then broke defense by kneeing Meiling in her abdomen, then followed that with a sweeping kick to knock the gate guard off her feet.

As soon as Meiling falls flat on the ground, Reimu fired a danmaku at her, but missed the shot on purpose as a warning.

"I think this is where your martial artist honor tells you that you were beaten fair and square?" Reimu quipped as she kept her gohei pointed at Meiling, ready to fire danmaku if necessary.

Meiling looked like she is poised to suddenly hit back...only to sigh as she relaxed her hands and dispelled the bluish-white aura. A sign that she admitted defeat. "I'm so going to lose my job for this, but you're right. You win." She said as she raised both hands up.

"No tricks?" Reimu asked with suspicion.

"Where I'm originally from, that would be cheating. And dishonorable." Meiling answered truthfully.

Reimu eyed Meiling for a few more seconds before putting the gohei away. "Good! Save us both the trouble of...well, you know..." She then extended a free hand to help the gate guard up.

Just as Meiling is about to grab Reimu's outstretched hand, however...

"SLEEP!"

Marisa casted a spell at Meiling, putting her to sleep instantly, with her head hitting the ground immediately afterwards.

"What the Makai, Marisa?!" Reimu turned toward her friend. "She had just admitted defeat!"

"I ain't gonna take any chances." Marisa shrugged as she twirled her magic wand. "Heroes do it all the time in movies. Well, most of 'em do..."

Reimu sighed in disbelief in response to Marisa's excuse. "I'd never understand  _gaijin_  mentality..."

"By the way..." Marisa then raised another question. "Were you always so good at martial arts?"

Speaking of that, Reimu looked at her hands, and wondered about the fight with Meiling earlier. "No. In fact, I actually don't know any martial arts aside from some pretty simple kicks..." She explained. "It was as if my body was acting on its own when I fought against her..."

At the same time, Meiling lied fast asleep on the ground, snoring as she's dreaming about dominating her opponents...

* * *

And that's how the fight against Meiling is settled...

So Reimu has a new ability that's being manifested? Well, sort of. That's how Reimu's intuition works in the YMC-verse. It's kind of similar to Spider-Man's famous Spider-Sense, with the added feature of Reimu instinctively parrying or dodging any attacks including those she couldn't and/or didn't see with her own eyes. It's...kind of complicated, so just read on and see how it develops.

Marisa comparing Meiling to Marvel's Shang-Chi isn't completely random. Though as the MCU's  _Shang-Chi and the Legends of the Ten Rings_  hasn't even begun production yet as of this writing (14th of August, 2019), I only made the comparison due to them both being chi-based kung-fu fighters. If you're wondering why Marisa is referencing a movie that hasn't even begun production yet, don't forget that the YMC main series are set in the 2110s, so the movie is over 90 years old already from Marisa's POV.

"And that, as they say, is that."

_Afterwords end here._


	10. Into the Scarlet Mansion

**Front yard, Scarlet Mansion**

Leaving Meiling behind at the mansion's front gate, Reimu at Marisa trekked through the extravagant front yard on their way to the mansion itself.

"What is the use of having all these flowers if they won't ever be having any sunlight?" Reimu wondered as she walked by a row of exotic-looking flowers which like everything else are blanketed in a red tint by the scarlet aura.

"Well, most villain-types ain't very smart when it comes to such minor details. So maybe there's that..." Marisa said with a shrug as she followed right behind.

"That doesn't sound like someone who should be up to villainy like taking over Gensokyo..." Reimu said as she walked by bone-dry fountain that doesn't look like it was ever activated.

"I know some truly dumb villains who essentially defeated themselves thanks to their own stupidity." Marisa added. "They ain't real people, of course, but ya get the point."

"But this is reality..." Reimu argued.

Marisa doesn't even try to argue back. She remained silent for the remainder of the trek through the mansion's front yard, while mentally reminding herself to drag Reimu to the movie marathon she planned to have tonight. But for now, she has an Incident to solve, and a villain to stop with her friend...

...

**Somewhere inside the Scarlet Mansion**

"Remi..."

"I know, Patchy. The defenders of this land has come to my door step."

"You mean  _our_  doorstep..."

"Why don't you go and give them a  _cold_  welcome, Patchy? I want to see what they are capable of."

"..."

"Well?"

"As you wish, Remi..."

"Thank you. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to take a short nap. Oh, and be sure not to let them reach the basement. She's a pain in the fangs to deal with..."

...

**Main hall, Scarlet Mansion**

*BOOM*

With a large explosion, a hole is blown on the main door of the mansion.

"Thank Markle that we have Explosion Spells!" Marisa said gleefully as she entered the mansion through the hole.

Reimu entered right after Marisa, coughing a bit due to the dust from the explosion. "I thought you're bad influence to your little witch friends. Turns out the opposite is true as well..." She deadpanned.

Marisa gave a smug chuckle in response. "There's a saying that goes like this: 'Go in with a bang'."

Reimu crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows. "I thought it was  _out_ , not  _in_?"

Marisa's smugness faded slightly. "Oh right! How can I forget 'bout it? Jeez..." She said awkwardly. "Wait, where the heck did ya hear that, anyway?"

"Your mother..." Reimu answered. "I heard her saying that when setting up the fireworks for the New Year's Eve party last year."

"She did? Guess I gotta talk to Mom more often..." Marisa said.

"Enough talk." Reimu interrupted as she raised her gohei. "We're not alone here."

Reimu is right. All over the extravagant hall (which looked like the one from Shinki's Palace complete with a fancy staircase, but with more bright colors), what looked like the mansion's maids all stopped their work to stare at the two girls who blew a hole in the mansion's front door.

Marisa scanned the entire hall (the scarlet aura had not affected the inside of the mansion, so everything is in their normal colors) as she counted the number of maids.

She counted 42.

"Hey there! We came here 'cause of a scarlet aura that's covering the whole dang place. Outside, that is. Can anyone of ya point us to y-" Marisa tries to do her usual 'thing', but is interrupted by Reimu.

"Look carefully, Marisa." Reimu informed the witch. "Despite looking like humans, they're  _not_. They're fairies..."

Reimu was right (again). At first glance, these maids looked just like normal people. But on closer inspection, their fairy wings become very apparent.

And apparently, they doubled as the mansion's security, wasting no time to drop their current tasks as they all pulled what looked like muskets out of hyperspace.

"Oh, hell!" Marisa cursed as the fairy maids aimed their muskets and fired...

...

**The Voile**

As the sound of Reimu and Marisa engaging the fairy maids echoed thorough the mansion corridors, a purple-robed magician made her way through the library to the designated reading area.

"Get the spell ready, Assistant, because we are expecting visitors shortly..." The magician informed her assistant.

"What kind of visitors, Miss?" The assistant asked.

At that moment, the sound of an explosion rung out from the corridors and echoed thorough the library.

"The violent kind..." The magician answered.

The assistant glanced over her shoulders at the library entrance as the sound of gunshots, spell-casts and explosions got louder and closer.

"Right away, Miss!" She turned back to the magician as she acknowledged the command.

...

The skirmish in the mansion corridors lasted for half an hour, ending with a fairy maid getting blown through the door by Reimu's Ying-Yang Orb.

"Jeez, never expected fairies to put up that much of a fight..." Marisa, slowly hovering through the destroyed doorway, commented as she shook debris off of her hat, which is also covered in bullet holes.

"I never expected fairies to be this skilled at being security guards either..." Reimu also commented as she hovered through the doorway after Marisa. She then leaned down to pick up a musket dropped by one of the fairy maids. "Ugh...and being barbaric too..." She added as she threw the musket over her shoulders.

The musket clunked a fairy maid who is coming to on her head, knocking her out cold once again.

Marisa looks amused by Reimu's actions. "They're barbaric...because they use a lotta guns? Ya still think so, a year since we met Little Miss Princess Police?" She asked, referring to Kotohime.

Reimu didn't answer. She just moved on by herself.

Marisa shrugged in response. "Huh. Whatever..."

As the girls moved on, they took note of their surroundings, finding themselves to be in a huge library with rows upon rows of bookshelves on two floors. A chandelier is hung in the middle of the ceiling, illuminating the library with warm lighting together with various smaller lamps hung all over the library.

"Who would need this many books for?" Reimu wondered as her eyes scanned around the library.

"Either the tenant has a hobby of collectin' books, or we're gonna be dealin' with a magician next..." Marisa stated as she checked out one of the bookshelves.

Reimu took notice of Marisa's statement. "What makes you think the latter might be the case?" She asked.

"Well, Miss Mima has a lotta books about magic in her hideout, and me and my witch friends occasionally gave 'em a read when we need to know about something." Marisa explained. "These books look similar to those, so I figured they might-"

Both girls paused when they noticed some of the books moving out of the bookshelves on their own accord.

The living books removed themselves from the bookshelves, then opened wide and turned the open pages to face the girls. Spell circles began to materialize in front of each of the books.

"Hey, Rei..." Marisa said as she slowly raised her magic wand. "Ya ever heard of the phrase, 'out of the frying pan, into the fire'?"

Reimu immediately understood the situation, as she raised her gohei too. "No, but I get the context of the phrase."

Danmaku soon poured out from the living books in huge numbers...

* * *

I'm guessing that some habits from during my busy times (that ended a few weeks ago) stayed with me, because I subconsciously felt like I need to meet a deadline and so rushed this chapter. So I'm sorry if you found this chapter dull.

Anyways, Reimu and Marisa will soon be meeting Patchouli and Koakuma, and will be engaging them in battle. You want to know how this version of Patchouli will be fighting the heroines? Well, just read on to find out...

Fun fact about the fairy maids: seems that the official artists can't unanimously agree on what they look like. They were depicted by Hirasaka Makoto in  _Touhou Sangetsusei_  (the Three Fairies manga) as being as tall as human adults, but by Aki Eda in  _Silent Sinner in Blue_  and ZUN in the games as looking just like any other fairies. I decided to go with Hirasaka's depiction, and handwave their physical appearance as them being a race of fairies unique to wherever the Scarlet Mansion originally came from. Oh, and they're also a little bit smarter and more competent than Gensokyo's fairies, in case you haven't noticed their using muskets.

"And that, as they say, is that."

_Afterwords end here..._


	11. The Voile

**The Voile, Scarlet Mansion**

The living books weren't any more resilient than fairies, and they practice the same mob rush tactics as fairies. What makes the living books different than fairies is that each individual living book packs as much magical firepower as a Doom Fairy.

"ZAP!" Marisa casted a spell. From the tip of her magic wand, a bolt of lightning shot out at a living book, then jumped from one living book to another, taking out several dozens in a chain reaction.

Reimu released several Ofuda, taking out dozens more living books in a series of explosions.

Despite the girls' efforts, the living books continued to press on against them in huge numbers.

"Dammit. Shoulda remembered that a library's the worst possible place to run into godsdamn livin' books..." Marisa cursed as she and Reimu are backed into a wall by the increasingly huge number of living books.

With her back touching a wall, and living books surrounding her and Marisa from every other direction, Reimu tries to think of a way she or Marisa could get out of their current predicament.

There's just way too many living books for even the Ying-Yang Orb to handle, and she doesn't have enough Ofuda with her to take out all the enemies.

"If we are going down, then it won't be without a fight..." Reimu said. She then raised her gohei in a defensive manner...

Before noticing that the living books have ceased their attacks. They still have the girls surrounded and pinned down, but all of them have stopped firing, and instead are just sitting still in the air.

"Huh? Why'd they just stop attackin' us?" Marisa wondered out loud. She was preparing to take the opportunity to blast them with a powerful spell, but was stopped by Reimu.

"Could be because whoever is controlling them told them to stop." Reimu said. "Which means..."

"Their controller has arrived." A third voice finished the shrine maiden's sentence.

Immediately after hearing that voice, Reimu and Marisa noticed what appeared to be a magician with long purple hair and clad in purple pajama-like robes, holding a magic tome with one hand as she hovered several feet over the floor.

**Magister of the Five Elements**

**Patchouli Knowledge**

"My name is Patchouli Knowledge, and I am the master of The Voile, this library you are currently in." The magician introduced herself, as she slowly descended toward the floor. "I assume you are here to deal with the Scarlet Mist that currently envelops this realm?"

Marisa didn't take any steps forward like she usually would upon meeting a new adversary. She did, however, raise a fist in an attempt to make herself look cool. "Why else would we be blastin' through this mansion, kickin' asses and takin' names in the meantime? Ya ain't lookin' at the Defenders of Gensokyo for nuthin'!"

Standing right next to her, Reimu face-palmed in reaction to Marisa's hammy declaration, uttering " _Gaijin_  mentality..."

The magician, Patchouli, made no emotional reaction toward Marisa's hammy self-introduction. "Then you have come to the right place." She said as she slowly landed on the floor. "However, while it is true that I created the Scarlet Mist, I am merely following the or-"

Patchouli's speech paused abruptly as she suddenly went into a coughing fit.

Reimu rolled her eyes upon seeing this. "Now I feel bad about having to beat her up, even if she is an enemy with direct relation to the Incident..."

Marisa had a similar reaction to the sight. "Really? Ya ain't even got a good health. Ya sure ya can take on either one of us?"

Patchouli's coughing fit lasted for just over 10 seconds before she recovered. "Perhaps not in a duel of physical prowess..." She said as she straightened her posture. "As I was saying, I am merely following the orders of the mistress of this mansion when I created the Scarlet Mist..." She then continued her speech that was interrupted by the coughing fit earlier. "And now that I have given control of it to her, you need to defeat her if you want to end it..."

"And I'm guessin' it is still your responsibility as a friend to protect her and kick our asses?" Marisa asked as she took a step forward.

"Yes." Patchouli answered bluntly. "But how can you, a mere human, ever hope to stand a chance against me, much less her?" She then added, in a somewhat intentionally insulting tone.

That statement appears to have struck a sensitive point in Marisa, as the witch narrowed her eyes and tightened her knuckles. "Let me ask ya another question first..." She said, her tone indicating a build-up of anger. "You're a magician, so that means you can sense how much magic power other people have, right?"

"That is true..." Patchouli answered. She realized that statement earlier must have pushed a sensitive spot, as she performed a gesture with her right hand to summon a small magic circle over her tome, just in case.

Marisa gritted her teeth and tightened her knuckles even further, to the point that it became very obvious that she is about to go off.

Reimu, being the most familiar with Marisa's personality, immediately figured out what is about to happen. "Marisa, please don't take it personally. Just calm do-"

"Reimu..." Marisa interrupted, as she slowly raised her magic wand. "You take care of her flunkies..."

The witch suddenly thrust her magic wand into the air, launching a magical flare that flew into the ceiling of the library and blasting a chunk out of it.

"This sorry excuse of a magician who has an even bigger ego than Doctor Strange..." Marisa, with her absolute fury apparent, stated. "She's  _mine_."

With her intention made clear, Marisa then proceed to fire off a huge bolt of electricity, which zapped and destroyed all the surrounding living books on its way toward Patchouli.

With a wave of her hand, Patchouli raised a magic shield just in time to deflect the electricity. The deflected electricity arced off into multiple directions, tearing apart every furniture, pillars and bookshelves that got in the way.

Soon, the electricity died down, and Patchouli dispelled the shield to prepare for a counterattack... which she couldn't perform as Marisa's flying broomstick suddenly slammed tip first into her, knocking her back several feet. Patchouli managed to not get knocked off her feet, though the effort to do so is enough to send her into another coughing fit.

Marisa caught her flying broomstick as it flew back to her on its own. "How's that for a weakling, bitch?" She taunted the purple magician. "Ya ain't even got a broom! And ya just got a taste of what I can do with it!"

Patchouli said nothing as she recovered from her second coughing fit. She performed a different gesture, which added another ring of runes to the magic circle over her tome. In doing so, five crystal that are about as big as she is materialized around her, each one with a different color from the others.

"I'm sorry for unintentionally insulting you earlier..." Patchouli said to Marisa, though it is pretty obvious that her apology is faked. "But it is my duty to get rid of you from this mansion. And for that, I will be using the powers of the elements..."

Marisa, owing to her study of magic with Mima, knew what Patchouli meant by "the elements": the elements of Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, and Earth. To summon the powers of those five elements required a very high level of understanding in elemental magic, which Marisa herself never was able to learn. The fact that Patchouli is able to summon them with no effort tells Marisa that she must be a very skilled magician.

That, however, did not cause Marisa's will to falter.

"So what? Ya think ya can beat me by just being smarter?!" Marisa yelled out, before casting her spell to activate Orreries Solar System. "I'm all 'bout brute force, I tell ya! Prepare for an ass-kickin'!"

...

As Marisa started her duel against Patchouli, Reimu who was left where she was watched the event unfold with amazement. She also reminded herself not to push Marisa's berserk button, now that she knows what it is, and the consequences of pushing it.

The shrine maiden then remembered that Marisa told her to take care of the "flunkies"... which she couldn't do anything about because they have all been taken care of by the witch.

"Still, I should go help Marisa..." Reimu told herself as she took off from the floor. She was about to join Marisa in fighting Patchouli when the same instincts that helped her beat Meiling triggered again, telling her to stop right where she is, which she did.

A pink beam of light appeared exactly a second after that, burning a hole on the floor mere inches in front of her.

"I can't let you do that!" Said a woman who has long red hair, wears a jet black suit and skirt, as well as what appeared to be two pair of demonic wings - a large pair sprouting from her back, and a smaller pair from the sides of her head. "Miss Patchouli summoned me as her Assistant, and I have to do whatever she says!"

Reimu sighed. Marisa told her to deal with the "flunkies", and now a "flunky" has just presented herself to keep the shrine maiden busy. Reimu hoped that her arrogant, hot-blooded westerner of a friend can take care of Patchouli.

And just like that, the two girls dueled their respective opponents in opposite ends of The Voile...

* * *

Like I said, I felt like I must meet a deadline, and had to limit the chapter to a brief minion fight and a pre-boss battle conversation just to be able to get it posted ASAP.

But I promise that the next chapter will definitely be of Marisa vs Patchouli, and Reimu vs Koakuma. And the two fights will be happening at the same time, just like when Reimu and Marisa fought Mugetsu and Gengetsu in  _Spirit Dream_.

Speaking of Koakuma, I wanted to give this version of her a proper name beyond something descriptively direct like "little devil", but couldn't think up of one. So I guess I'll have to handwave this Koakuma's lack of a name as Patchouli not bothering with one when she summoned her.

Speaking of Patchouli as well, there's actually a reason for her somewhat directed hostility against Marisa. But since there's no way to put said reason in the story without making it sound like needless exposition, I'll drop it right here as a sort of Word of God below...  
Patchouli had to deal with a particularly annoying American merchant that acted like a total cowboy in the one week preceding her performing the ritual that dropped the Scarlet Mansion into Gensokyo. She agreed to Remilia's request to "have the Scarlet Mansion be transported to another realm" primarily just so she can get away from that jackass buckaroo,  _only_  to end up meeting  _another_  jackass buckaroo (Marisa) in the place she least expected to have any Americans at all (Gensokyo). Hence Patchouli's directed hostility against Marisa.

"And that, as they say, is that..."

_Afterwords end here._


	12. Not-So-Mere Human

**The Voile**

When she thought about it for a bit, Marisa found the whole situation to be a bit funky...

At one moment, this purple beansprout of a magician calling herself Patchouli showed up, saying that she created the Scarlet Mist under orders from mistress of the mansion. Then Patchouli said that she passed control of the Scarlet Mist to the mistress, and that defeating said mistress is now necessary to put an end to it. Then Patchouli said that anyone who wanted to meet the mistress will have to go through her first...

At first, Marisa thought that she and Reimu should be able to handle Patchouli if they worked together.

But then the purple beansprout just had to insult her for being a "mere human".

It was initially nothing personal, but Patchouli had just made it personal for Marisa...

Which is why the witch is using Orerries Solar System to pelt the purple magician with enough danmaku to demolish a large house. Reimu would've called this overkill, but right now, Marisa only wants to prove Patchouli wrong.

Patchouli was no slouch either. While her coughing fits earlier has proven that she isn't physically fit and thus is unable to dodge danmaku like Marisa could, her elemental stones gave her a protective shield similar to Marisa's own Orerries Solar System, allowing her to tank everything Marisa could throw at her. In addition, the elemental stones, as it turns out, could each individually pump out more danmaku than all four multicolored orbs of Orerries Solar System combined.

So when Patchouli counterattacked, Marisa is forced to cease her house-demolishing barrage to evade the hill-pulverizing barrage aimed at her (although the immediate concern is to the barrage taking out the multicolored orbs which would then dispel Orerries Solar System and the shield it provides) by flying behind a bookshelf.

That bookshelf didn't last more than three seconds before it was pulverized into splinters by Patchouli's barrage, forcing Marisa to make a dash toward another bookshelf, which lasted just as briefly against the barrage. Marisa realized that Patchouli's massive firepower meant that taking cover is just as bad as standing out in the open, and so she decided to stop hiding and focus on dodging instead.

"Geez, for someone who  _owns_  a library, she sure had no freakin' problem smashin' it up..." Marisa thought to herself as she tried her best to avoid getting hit.

Marisa dodged Patchouli's barrage for a bit before flinging a slicing spell at the magician's elemental stones.

The sound of a blade bouncing off a hard surface indicated that the spell didn't work.

"I appreciate your ability to evade my attacks and pull off a counterattack..." Patchouli temporarily paused her attacks as she told Marisa. "However, you need to try harder than that."

The purple magician then resumed her attacks, spraying a huge amount of danmaku and laser beams at the witch.

"Dangit!" Marisa cursed as she braced herself for the attack.

...

Meanwhile, Reimu saw how Marisa was having trouble with Patchouli, and wanted to give her a hand, in spite of what the witch told her.

Unfortunately for the shrine maiden, she is currently being kept busy by Patchouli's assistant.

The assistant's attacks aren't powerful, or massive in volume. But she is very persistent in her attacks, and very good at dodging attacks too, as Reimu has troubles landing any hits with danmaku, Ofuda, or the Ying-Yang Orb.

Reimu swerved to the left as the assistant fired a pair of laser beams at her. She then fired back at the assistant, who dodged the shots before continuing with another pair of laser beams.

 _Damn it! Where is that intuition that helped me get through the front gate?!_  Reimu mentally swore as she continued dodging and counterattacking as best as she could.

All of a sudden, several stray danmaku and laser beams from Marisa's and Patchouli's duel shot toward the direction of Reimu and the assistant, interrupting their fight as they both backed off in order to not become victims of friendly fire by their respective allies.

Reimu recalled chastising Marisa about stray shots back at the farmlands of Hoppou-ri. She reminded herself to watch out for stray shots, and to chastise Marisa about it again later.

The assistant quickly recovered from the shock of almost becoming friendly fire fodder. "Well, that was a shock, almost becoming victims of friendly fire." She said casually. "So, where were we aga-"

Reimu decided not to wait for the assistant to finish speaking, so she launched the Ying-Yang Orb at her opponent while she is distracted.

The assistant did notice the attack, and simply moves out of the way.

"Oh, so that's where we were! Now I think we should raise the game, don't you think?" The assistant said, before enveloping her whole body in a pink aura as a form of powering up.

Reimu clenched her fists. The assistant's power-up phase isn't very strong, but isn't weak either. If anything, this could take a while...

"How about this?" The assistant taunted. "Doubting your ability to beat me n-"

Her speech was interrupted again, this time due to her taking a direct hit from one of Patchouli's larger and more powerful danmaku that went astray. The danmaku was large enough that it took the assistant with it in its trajectory, pushing her across the Voile into a wall.

Reimu flinched as the large danmaku exploded on impact with the assistant literally right in the middle of it.  _Wasn't expecting that, but thank the gods for it..._  She thought to herself.

The large danmaku itself reminded the shrine maiden that she still has another enemy to beat in this library, and a friend to help...

...

Marisa is running out of options.

Most of her attacks are not very effective against Patchouli's five elemental stones, and she's already down three of the four multicolored orbs that made up Orerries Solar System. If she loses one more of the orb, she'll lose the shield provided by the spell, and be at the mercy of Patchouli's powerful attacks.

Marisa, taking cover behind a marble pillar, started to regret telling Reimu she can handle this herself. "Yeah, sure, telling ya friend you can handle this yourself only to realize that ya bit off more than ya can chew.  _Real smooth_ , Marisa..." She chastised herself as Patchouli's danmaku and lasers tore through her surroundings.

She overworked her brain trying to come up with a usable tactic when Patchouli stopped attacking all of a sudden.

"Huh? Why the heck did she stop?" Marisa wondered, as she took a peek from behind her cover.

It turns out Patchouli stopped attacking because she just had another coughing fit. Marisa was glad about this, as it gave her some breathing room as well as a chance to retaliate.

"Well, that works too. Sucks to be in poor health."

Jumping out of cover, the witch guided her last multicolored orb into position, aiming and then firing a rainbow laser at one of the five elemental stones.

This time it worked, as the rainbow laser tore through the elemental stone representing Water, causing it to shatter into tiny pieces.

Patchouli recovered from her coughing fit right at that moment. Her stoic face expressed dissatisfaction about losing one of the stones.

"Attacking me when I'm helpless..." Patchouli said with a scowl (or as much as a stoic face can scowl, anyway). "Weren't witches like you supposed to duel honorably...?"

Marisa scoffed in response. "Heh. I dunno how long it has been since ya stepped outta this library, but in the world I was born into, it's all 'bout bein' pragmatic!"

Patchouli narrowed her eyebrows. "Pragmatic, you say...?" She then moved her hand over her tome, rearranging the position of the remaining four elemental stones behind her. "Then I will show you what pragmatism truly is..."

Just as Patchouli is about to begin her next phase of attacks, the Wood elemental stone inexplicably shattered into pieces as something smashed its way through from behind the purple magician.

"What...?" Patchouli uttered in disbelief.

The same object quickly came back and almost smashed the Earth elemental stone had Patchouli not maneuvered it out of the way in time.

That was when Marisa squinted her eyes and noticed what the object is: Reimu's Ying-Yang Orb.

"You told me to take care of the 'flunkies', and I just did." Reimu told Marisa as she caught the Ying-Yang Orb after calling it back to her. "Or rather, this purple magician did, via friendly fire."

Marisa blinked for a bit before she chortled. "Friendly fire... HA! And  _I'm_  the 'mere human'!" She then proceed to mock Patchouli. "Ain't really a pro if ya accidentally take out ya own teammate!"

Patchouli broke her stoic face and made an obvious scowl upon being mocked for her accidental mistake. "Bloody buckaroos..." She cursed under her breath.

"By the way, ain't ya gonna show me what pragmatism really is?" Marisa then added as she twirled her magic wand. "How 'bout I give ya a hand?"

Saying that, the witch then aimed her magic wand at something on the ceiling above Patchouli.

"BLAST!"

With a loud chant, a magic missile spawned from the tip of the wand and launched itself toward its target: the base of a large ornate chandelier.

Patchouli gasped as she realized what Marisa's intent was.

An explosion obliterated the base of the chandelier as the magic missile impacted it. No longer having anything keeping it on the ceiling, it began to plummet toward the purple magician standing right below it.

In a moment of panic, Patchouli (whose frequent coughing fit meant that she cannot move very fast and thus prevents her from getting out of the way quickly) commanded the remaining three elemental stones to target the falling chandelier. While the chandelier is mostly made up of glass fractals which are easily taken care of by the barrage of danmaku and laser beams, it is still a rather large chandelier, not to mention that its  _steel_  frame is tougher than the fractals and thus much harder to break apart.

As Patchouli is kept busy trying to reduce the falling chandelier to harmless tiny pieces (the shield provided to her by the elemental stones can shrug off an impact, but it is the stones themselves that she is concerned with), Reimu and Marisa took the opportunity to (along with being pragmatic) focus their fire on the elemental stones.

Of course, Patchouli is so focused on taking out the falling chandelier that she didn't notice being fired upon until the Earth stone was blown up by Reimu's Ofuda. And even then, it was too late to do anything as the chandelier landed with a loud crash, burying the purple magician under a pile of expensive glass and steel.

Reimu flinched at the sight. "That is going to hurt..."

Marisa, on the other hand, gleefully blew a raspberry at Patchouli. "How's that for a 'mere human', ya jackass!"

Reimu turned toward Marisa. "All that just because she insulted you?"

Marisa simply shrugged in response. "Says the girl with weight issu-"

Reimu grabbed Marisa by her collar upon hearing that. "I dare you to finish that..." Reimu threatened while glaring straight into Marisa's eyes.

"I'm so sorry..." Marisa nervously apologized as she got reminded what Reimu's berserk button is.

Both girls quickly forgot about the personal issue when they noticed Patchouli digging herself out of the pile of glass and steel that was the chandelier. The purple magician is unhurt thanks to the shield provided by the elemental stones. Although the shield probably isn't there anymore due to the elemental stones not surviving the crashing of the chandelier.

Reimu let go of Marisa, and pointed her gohei at Patchouli in anticipation of an attack. Marisa did the same with her magic wand.

Rather than resuming with her attack, Patchouli just raised a hand to signify her surrender, then coughed for a bit as she swiped some glass particles off of her. "That was... very impressive..." She told Marisa. "I stand corrected. Perhaps you are not a 'mere' human, after all..."

"Anything else ya wanna say?" Marisa asked as she kept her wand pointed at Patchouli.

Patchouli remained silent for a few seconds before answering, "I'm sorry for insulting you..."

Marisa looked like she accepted the apology, as she lowered her magic wand, prompting Reimu to lower her gohei as well.

"Now, which way to your mistress?" Reimu interrogated.

Patchouli answered by simply pointing behind her, at an ornate door on the second floor of the library.

"Thank you." Reimu responded. "And I'm sorry in behalf of myself and Marisa for wrecking your library, even if you did most of the damage yourse-"

Without warning, Marisa suddenly raised her magic wand again, and blasted Patchouli in the face with the same magic missile spell from before.

Patchouli exclaimed "Mukyuu!" as the magic missile blew her into a bookshelf, which then collapsed onto her with all its weight, burying her underneath.

"Your apology ain't sincere enough!" Marisa quipped as she dispelled Orerries Solar System. "Take that, ya Doctor Strange wannabe!"

Reimu reeled back in surprise. But having seen something similar happening to Meiling, she isn't as shocked about it, though she is still pretty shocked. "Again?! Why did you have to... Oh, never mind. I could never understand you..."

* * *

And that, my dear readers, is why you do not insult the black-and-white witch.

Anyways, real life's catching up with me again, so expect delays to future updates that I have no control of. Although the delay for this chapter can indeed be partially blamed on Writer's Block. Sorry.

"And that, as they say, is that..."

_Afterwords end here._


End file.
